ARE YOU READY FOR FAT BEAR WEEK 🐻

Happy Autumnal Equinox! 🍂🍁 I turned on the Halloween lights on my house and am listening to the Practical Magic soundtrack. Yesterday I baked a garden focaccia.

Lego Rivendell is complete

Don’t worry, I didn’t cut them myself. My friend did. 🤗

"that's not funny, no one should lose their lives to gun violence" so true! that's what we've been saying all along. I'm so glad you agree

Tell me it’s a bad idea to cut my own bangs.

Man it has been an insane couple of weeks. Tenure file due, start of the semester, paper revisions due, and sabbatical application due all within less than three weeks. But it’s all done and I was able to celebrate by biking to the farmers market!

Why is there another S in the spelling bee

Girlfriend got me the Lego Rivendell set for my birthday and I am incredibly lucky. Phase 1 is complete!

Trapped at home waiting for a package that I need to sign for, where they keep pushing back the delivery window. At least I'm getting a lot done.

Super excited to announce that our NSF proposal on active learning methods in calculus (and specifically in my case, life science calculus) has been funded!! In these uncertain and somewhat devastating times for scientific funding (especially in sci ed) I'm super grateful for this opportunity

In an attempt to not let myself get distracted I installed an app that rewards me for not looking at my phone (courtesy of @hankgreen.bsky.social) but two factor authentication is FUCKING IT UP. Websites, stop making me look at my phone to log in!!!

Bit of a departure from my usual area but it was fun to work on this number theory project and I learned a ton!

THIS IS NOT A DRILL (context: I’m a swiftie)

We are hiring in Operations Research at @hmc.edu! If you or someone you know is on the job market, please consider applying: math.hmc.edu/tenure-track...

Does anyone else listen to that one song from Legally Blonde when they're hard at work at something and want to prove themselves and pretend they're in a movie montage or is that just me? Is my millennial showing?

Tenure file due in 1.5 weeks means I have taken (checks watch) 177 steps today.

My partner is moving in and I’m overwhelmed by STUFF. I wish there were more avenues to borrow things you need only occasionally. Like I was going through my stuff to get rid of and found my label maker. And I could get rid of it but maybe I’ll use it again. til then it’s just taking up space.

I accomplished the impossible. Two weeks ago I walked into an independent bookstore (shoutout Wellesley Books in Wellesley, MA) and bought two books. And then, get this. I read them both. Completely. Shortly after buying them. Please clap.

Me whenever anyone asks when school starts up again

me to myself: annotate your code you idiot.

Catching up on TdF…wow can’t believe Jaspar is out!!! Hoping he makes a smooth recovery.

“No Explosions” by Naomi Shihab Nye

How do folks feel about citing an arxiv preprint that does not seem to appear in a peer-reviewed journal yet? Is this a no-no?

Such a fun and beautiful day!

Tag yourself I’m sum-br zalues

Off to go teach a lesson to middle schoolers. Pray for me.

New York I am so happy for you!!!!

Thinking of my NYC friends today!!! Remember: don’t rank Cuomo!! I’m rooting for you all!!!

Is it just me or does Pride seem more muted this year

Pet peeve: when people say “at random” when they mean “according to a uniform distribution”.

yooooo

It’s amazing how many places have eduroam wifi. Currently: Cairns AUS airport. Previously: the Taronga Zoo in Sydney.

So this is cool. Climate scientists from across the country are live-streaming for 100 hours straight starting TOMORROW about why it’s important we fund and conduct climate research! Check them out starting tomorrow at 1 pm EST.

I'll be honest, I haven't been that active on here recently because I'm not sure how to respond to what is happening in higher ed at the moment. I'm grieving for academic freedom. I'm grieving for students who can't speak up against genocide without having their hard earned degrees withheld

Student raised his hand and asked today “Do we need to worry about AI?” And I panicked for a minute and was about to gear up my AI manifesto when I realized he was referring to {a_i}, the convergent sequence I’d written on the board earlier.

The new pope has a BS in mathematics from Villanova, which explains how he was so successful at becoming the largest cardinal.

Sometimes my students leave notes for my dog. ❤️

**Rapid Response Bridge Funding Program** -- $25,000 grants earmarked for early-career researchers whose NSF-funded research on STEM and education has just been terminated. www.spencer.org/grant_types/... hub.jhu.edu/2025/04/28/j... Thanks @lizneeley.bsky.social !

Picard management tip: Fight for what you know is right. Only arrogant bullies think resistance is futile.

It’s Arbor Day! Tell me about your favorite tree. I’ll go first. There have been many trees that I’ve loved in my life but at the moment I am feeling fondness for Ella, the Meyer lemon tree in my backyard. She has provided so much for me, I haven’t bought a lemon since I moved into this house.

“Over the course of the semester the proofs have gotten….weirder.” - one of my students today

Really incredibly proud to see our institution’s president signed on here, even if it took a couple days. www.aacu.org/newsroom/a-c...

What a perfect way to celebrate Earth Day 🌎 ! San Diego adopts a new city flower, blue eyed grass, the winner of a bracket style poll. It was so fun to participate in this and I thank the San Diego city council for unanimously approving this choice! fox5sandiego.com/news/local-n...

🔥 More than 150 college presidents—Harvard, Princeton, Brown & more—just issued a blistering rebuke of the Trump regime’s authoritarian crusade against higher ed. This is a full-on attack on academic freedom. The resistance is rising. Read their statement: tinyurl.com/AACU-letter

One year without my favorite guy. I miss you, Hilbert.

They're coming for the mathematicians. www.thehouston.org/news/uh-math...

The howling laughter I get when I tell my upper division theoretical math class that they can’t use calculators on the exam is actually rather affirming.

Just submitted my tax payment. While I wouldn’t say I ENJOY paying taxes, I usually have an appreciation for the services they help fund. But I waited until the last minute this year because, let’s be honest, I’m pretty sure my tax dollars are going to causes I don’t support this year.