Research
Me and the monochromator
The nerd runs deep within me. I love the analytical challenge of mathematics, and see it as a beautiful search for truth, not rote memorization of methods to complete calculations. Surprisingly, studying math has helped me sharpen my craft of acting. Both a mathematical proof and a scene have the same goal: sharing an inherent truth in such a way that others can engage with the work.
The preparations begin with the same questions:
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What do I know already? How much of this information will help me right now?
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How can I break this material down into its simplest chunks?
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What weird stuff am I going to have to try to crack this one?
Being a mathematician helps me be a better actor. I can break things down into their simplest bits and put them back together again in a way that tells others something new about the world. Here's a little bit more about my technical background in STEM:
In addition to studying theatre, dance, Arabic, and anthropology in college, I loved taking my math and physics courses. During two summers, I was lucky enough to study at Research Experiences for Undergraduates funded by the National Science Foundation. One of my projects was at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, retrofitting a monochromator with modern mass-produced technology and optics lab equipment. The next summer, I studied combinatorics at the University of Minnesota, with a dimer interpretation of cluster algebras, which you can read about here.
I graduated from Mount Holyoke College summa cum laude in 2019, where I majored in mathematics and minored in Arabic. I earned highest honors for my senior thesis in fluid dynamics, and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa upon graduation. After graduation, I headed to Budapest on a Fulbright grant, where I studied math at Budapest Semesters in Mathematics and published research in convex geometry in the journal Discrete Mathematics. You can read the paper here.
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Math reminds me to think problems through, step by step. The logical scaffolding of problem solving techniques continues to inform my work as an actor.
