I am a quantitative biologist. I use tools from physics, math and scientific computing to understand how complex interaction networks and multiscale coupling lead to emergent behaviors in biological systems. My current research focuses on how eco-evolutionary feedback loops and multi-species interactions lead to the emergent diversity and evolutionary dynamics of bacterial viruses.

In the past, I have studied a wide range of complex biological systems: I started out developing stochastic differential equation models to study collective movement in fish schools as an undergrad. I then moved on to using wet lab experiments, microscopy and non-linear elasticity models to study non-linear tissue mechanics and tissue regeneration in Hydra and in freshwater flatworms during my PhD. Despite the diversity of biological systems, the range of time and length scales involved and the different techniques, in all systems, we see the emergence of complex behavior from relatively simple underlying rules.

I am also really interested in (bio)physics education. For the last couple of years, I've been co-teaching BIPH 706: Quantitative and computational biosciences at the UMD College Park. In the summer of 2021 at UCSD, I was the instructor-of-record for PHYS 1B: Electricity and Magnetism for life science majors as part of the Summer Graduate Teaching Scholar.

I enjoy developing new courses and teaching resources. I am currently co-developing a short course at UMD, BSCI 339X: Confronting health misinformation, which teaches students how to use quantitative reasoning and basic statistics to assess plausibility of information they might encounter in the news, on social media, in ads etc. I also helped develop two hands-on research modules to teach object tracking and basic signal processing to undergraduates at Swarthmore College. You can find the associated manuscripts here and here.

I am currently a postdoctoral scientist at the University of Maryland College Park in the Weitz Group. Before joining the Weitz group, I was a PhD student at the University of California San Diego working with Dr. Eva-Maria Collins (now at Swarthmore college) and Dr. Patrick Diamond. I completed my undergraduate degree in Physics with a minor in Biology from the Indian Institute of Science and did my undergraduate thesis work under the supervision of Dr. Vishwesha Guttal.