Sunday, June 9, 2013

EJ Sanchez - research introduction

Hi all,

My name is Edward Sanchez, but feel free to call me EJ.  I was born in St. Louis, MO, but my family moved around quite a bit until I finally spent the last couple years of high school in Milwaukee, WI, which is where my family lives now.  I went to Notre Dame for my undergrad degree in Mathematics, and while there I decided to go on to pursue a Ph.D in math. 

I first considered math research as a serious possibility when I took a year-long sequence in Abstract Algebra.  This is an area of math which focuses on studying different kinds of sets with certain types of operations defined on them; one example of such a structure is the integers with the two operations of addition and multiplication.  Simple, right?  Don’t worry, these structures can be much more complicated and challenging to understand, and I really enjoyed it. 

Now my research interests are in algebraic geometry and in finding applications of algebraic geometry to the physical sciences, especially biology.  So learning how to do interdisciplinary work may be very valuable to me in the future if (as I would like to do) I’m able to use mathematical perspectives and tools in working with others to solve problems in biology.  
This summer, though, I'm working on a project from the math department that has to do with reading sets of data and distinguishing the meaningful (persistent) data from empty noise.  It's basically using different mathematical tools to recognize patterns in data sets.  Which is kinda cool.  

So…forgive me for going all math-nerd on y’all, haha, and thanks for your time in reading this.  I'm looking forward to working with you and getting to know you better this summer, and I'm eager to learn about your research interests as well.  All the best!


EJ Sanchez

4 comments:

  1. Oooh, does your interest in applying math to the sciences foretell an eventual pursuit of sciences in your education?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, hopefully! I was able to take some chemistry and physics as an undergrad, but I want to learn more. I'm trying to start by doing some bio reading now, kind of on the side.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey, what you're working on sounds like an old interest of mine (information theory), and I'm in the physics department hoping to learn more of how modern algebra connects with quantum and particle physics.

    Maybe we should get together and talk sometime.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.