applied mathematics, department of physical and mathematical sciences
electrical engineering, department of electrical and computer engineering (graduated whoohoo!)
north carolina state university

certificate, documentary studies: photography, center for documentary studies
duke university (link)

one day, i will make this webpage very pretty. one day.

current interest areas inverse problems optimization and control; nonlinear equations numerical analysis optimal control social discourse.

employment via My benevolent research advisor, Dr. H. T. Tran.

current and past research activities/publications (most recent/current listed first -- for the most complete list please read my CV!

• Here is my ICIAM preso from this year in Vancouver.
• Computational Design of Asymmetric Electron Beam Devices, 2009.
  • With Ives, R.L., Thuc Bui   Read, M., David J., Tran H., et al. Appears in IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, soon to press. DOI: 10.1109/TED.2009.2015421.
• Computer optimized design of electron guns.
  • With Ives, R.L., Thuc Bui   Read, M., David J., Tran H. Appears in Vacuum Electronics Conference, 2008. IVEC 2008. DOI: 10.1109/IVELEC.2008.4556399.
• Subset Selection for Parameter Estimation in an HIV Model
  • With H.T. Tran and Martin Fink, University of Oxford. Published in Proceedings in Applied Mathematics and Mechanics. Nov 2007. DOI: 10.1002/pamm.200700319
• Implementation of computer optimization for design of electron guns.
  • With a lot of people. Appears in: Infrared, Millimeter and Terahertz Waves, 2008. DOI: 10.1109/ICIMW.2008.4665480.
• Feasibility of Metabolic Parameter Estimation in Pharmocokinetic Models of Carbon Tetrachloride Exposure in Rats.
  • With B. Draper, D. Marcin, A. Margolskee,  R. Murden, M.V. Evans, and K. A. Yokley. Toxicological & Environmental Chemistry, accepted.
• A Hybrid Optimization Approach for the Optimal Design of Traveling Wave Tubes. This is the project that won't go away, though I'm having to have it wrapped in the next few weeks.
  • Presented at the 2007 Joint Mathematics Meeting in New Orleans, LA and the SIAM Meeting on Computational Mathematics and Engineering in Costa Mesa, CA. Winner: Best Poster (Joint Mathematics Meeting)
• The Fesability of Illuminant Estimation in Hyperspectral Images and Datasets. (poster)
  • Advisor: H.J Trussell. Winner: Best Poster, ECE Undergrad Research Symposium. Winner: Best Research in Engineerng and Technology, NCSU Undergrad Research Symposium.
• Real Time 3D Facial Detection and Reconginition Systems (senior design project). Advisor: Dr. H. Krim, VISSTA Research Group.

• Positive Transitions: Documenting the lives of HIV+ Individuals in my area, Spring 2006
  • This was my capstone project at the Center for Documentary Studies.
• Downtown and Underground: Another look at AAA Check Cashing and Bail Bonding, Fall 2005
• 24.7: AAA Check Cashing and Bail Bonding, Fall 2004 (statement)
  • In 2004 I spent a year working with AAA Check Cashing and Bail Boinding in downtown Raleigh. I would shoot to about 2AM most weekends...it was a wild time. I created two bodies of work: a black and white portfolio and a color portfolio.
• Streaming Landscapes: Downtown Raleigh, Spring 2005
  • You know, your standard urban landscape/decay portfolio. It just so happens to my backyard.
• The Nature of Self, Spring 2004
  • A portraiture project of the people who were in my life at the time.
  • From when I was learning to shoot...
• old school: The Kids Are Alright (Emmy Nominated), 2002 (21:18, google video link)
  • Produced my senior year at Enloe, this thing still has a life of its own and it blows me away. The Independent in Raleigh called the movie a "heartening, piercing glimpse into the lives of the teenagers."
• slightly less old school: The Joy of Being Mary, Spring 2004 (10:18, youtube link)
  • A ten minute biopic documenting North Carolina's most prolific underground drag queen.

• tssolve.m: the relative and general sensitivity solver. along with the manual.
• the abridged matlab crash course -- pdf, tex.
• matlab questions -- pdf, tex.
• sensitivity analysis, AD, and subset selection -- pdf, tex.

• We wrote up all of our MA 515 functional analysis notes. Wow. Everything from norm spaces, completeness, function spaces, Hahn-Banach thorems, everything.
• A summary of Lyapunov stability results. This is from optimal control MA 731, and summarizes the results of LTI systems, nonlinear systems, how to use Lyapunov functions.
• (Selected) Modeling Projects from MA 573. This is some cool stuff.
  • Statistical Analysis in Inverse Problems with Experimental Data
  • Heat Transfer and Parameter Identification (this one is cool).

• The official MATLAB Crash Course. I wrote this 18 page LaTeX document for the 2007 summer REU. Assumes no MATLAB experience and covers ODE solvers, optimization, linear algebra problems, least squares curve fitting, and the inverse problem. A good getting started guide to MATLAB (I have since updated this. Email for the most recent copy).
• Sensitivity Analysis and Automatic Differentiation. I wrote a tutorial on how to use Martin Fink's myAD code to perform classical and general sensitivity analysis on any compartment ODE model. There is an error in equation (3): the normalizing term should be under the square.
• Summary of the first third of Multivariabe Real Analysis.
• The second third of Multivariabe Real Analysis.
• The last third of Advanced Multivariable Calculus.
• fftplot.m: produces meaningful plots of an DFT/FFT, assuming you know the sampling frequency. For most homework problems you would, so this script does all of the math for you. Very useful in ECE 301, 402, 420, 421, and 422. I can't believe I took all of those classes.

papers and projects of interest (mathematical and engineering goodness)

• A Survey of Terrestrial and Free Space Based Optical Communications Systems
• Size-Age Dependent Population Model (Sinko-Streifer Model)
• Acoustic Wave Propogation in a PVC Pipe
• Gallium Phosphide Thin Film Growth Formation, Monitoring and Control
• Algebraic Coding Theory

future schedule: spring 12

writing that wonderful disseration!