Jan. 17, 2018
Assistant professor Corina Tarnita conducts fascinating research on the causes and consequences of emergent patterns in complex systems, such as the regular vegetation patterns found in arid ecosystems worldwide. Her journey to get to this place in her career is not a conventional one. It started back in her home country of Romania where she was a three-time winner at Romania's National Mathematical Olympiad. Following her undergraduate studies at Harvard she started a graduate program, also at Harvard, and in her first year experienced burnout with pure mathematics; but in good time she stumbled upon a book in the library that kindled her current interest in mathematical biology.