Leadership

I build learning environments where students and teams can take on hard problems and keep growing.

Graduate education at Harvard

Assistant Director of Graduate Studies in Data Science.

I work with students and faculty in Harvard’s Data Science master’s program. Program information, admissions guidance and my contact details are on my Harvard directory page.

U.S. Naval Academy, 2023 to 2026

Faculty leadership beyond the classroom, in Mathematics and across the Academy.

  • 2023 to 2026Program Manager, International Programs Office. Led two Vietnam Language, Regional Expertise and Culture programs in summer 2024, covering roster selection, itineraries and budget tracking. They were the first Vietnam programs since the 2024 upgrade to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between the U.S. and Vietnam.
  • 2023 to 2025Search Advocate. Advised search committees on candidate ranking, scoring and selection, and safeguarded confidentiality. Supported two searches: Distinguished Military Professor for Character (2024) and Tenure-Track Assistant Professor in Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering (2025).
  • 2024 to 2026Department committees. Faculty Performance Committee, Julian C. F. Distinguished Speaker Committee, Mathematics Research Committee (peer review of colleagues’ proposals and funding outreach), and the departmental SOF committee.
  • 2023 to 2026Academic advisor, Operations Research majors. Advised midshipmen in the Academy’s largest major on coursework and progress to graduation, and coached teams for the 2023 Information Challenge.
  • TrainingCertificate on Emotional Leadership, Grit Faculty Training Workshop, Stockdale Center for Leadership.

Research leadership

Leading projects and keeping a distributed team aligned.

As affiliated faculty at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, I work with Dr. Li Shen’s lab to align project scope with the lab’s research aims, give regular updates to PIs and collaborators, and keep scientific output steady across trainees from undergraduates to PhD students. At the Naval Academy I built and ran an independent research program supported by three Office of Naval Research grants.

Purdue University, 2017 to 2022

Service while earning the Ph.D.

  • 2021Search committee, Head of the School of Industrial Engineering. Improved the school-wide survey on qualifications and vision, drafted candidate evaluation criteria, and reviewed the posting and points-of-pride documents.
  • 2019Chair of Health and Wellness, Industrial Engineering Graduate Student Organization. Built programs for work-life balance and supported prospective graduate students joining in 2019 and 2020.
  • 2022Outstanding Service Scholarship Award, School of Industrial Engineering.

Before academia

Program management in the automotive industry.

At Mann+Hummel I managed internal sales and programs for major automotive customers, leading a global, multidisciplinary team through sourcing analysis, manufacturing footprint, piece-price analysis and project finance, with program budgets from $100,000 to $300,000. I briefed the corporate board in the U.S. and Germany on engineering, sourcing and financial performance. At Denso I built the capacity-planning methodology and database used in weekly cross-functional reviews.

Public engagement and editorial service

Talks, reviewing and community building.

I speak to students and professionals in the U.S. and Vietnam, including a 2024 talk at the U.S. Consulate in Saigon on the American motto “Out of Many, One” from a neuroscience perspective, and talks at VinUniversity and Fulbright University Vietnam. I serve as an editor for Scientific Reports and review for ISBI, the AMIA Informatics Summit, Medical Image Analysis, NetSci, Military Operations Research, IEEE BIBM, Brain Imaging and Behavior, and Alzheimer’s Association research grants.