Happy Pi Day! Here’s a quick summary of some recent things going on with me: I got my PhD! (I defended my thesis last December.) My multivariable calculus (18.02) notes are published on MIT OpenCourse Ware. The 2025 Teammate Hunt runs from March 28 to April 6. Please check it out! (Yes, I’m on the… Continue reading March 2025 newsflash
Category: Personal Life
The depth of Hanabi
This post is a short chrono-logue about my time with the card game Hanabi, which I play with the H-group. Thus, it’s also implicitly an advertisement for why I enjoy the game Hanabi so much. I think the progression is a bit interesting because it can be divided into almost discrete “stages”, with each stage… Continue reading The depth of Hanabi
Slice of life of the OTIS GM
Here’s a snapshot of what running OTIS looks like these days. Starts from last Sunday afternoon until Monday lunch. Timestamps indicate when the action was completed (rather than started). Sunday 13:04: Process a late financial aid request from someone who forgot to request it earlier. Sunday 13:14: Edit OTIS website to clarify that if you… Continue reading Slice of life of the OTIS GM
Things to tell 18-year-old Evan
Early in 2023 the MIT Undergraduate Math Association had an event where course 18's could get paired with a graduate student and chat over coffee. So naturally I got asked what I wish I knew as an undergraduate. This post records some subset of the things I said. Undergraduate math isn't deep after all ---… Continue reading Things to tell 18-year-old Evan
Everything I need is on the ground
For me the biggest difference between undergraduate math and PhD life has been something I've never seen anyone else talk about: it's the feeling like I could no longer see the ground. To explain what this means, imagine that mathematics is this wide tower, where you start with certain axioms as a foundation, and then… Continue reading Everything I need is on the ground
Mystery Hunt 2023
This is a retro-post for the Mystery Hunt 2023, for which I played a somewhat minor role on the organizing team (teammate). You can play at interestingthings.museum. There is an ongoing list of write-ups about the hunt being kept at puzzles.wiki, and you may also be interested in the reddit AMA from teammate. Puzzle shoutout… Continue reading Mystery Hunt 2023
The silver lining
A while ago someone asked me how COVID had affected the students I worked with. I replied that, on average, the pandemic had tripled my students' productivity. And I'm gonna brag about it like the proud teacher I am.
OTIS: The RPG
I went and took the idea in I switched to point-based problem sets one step further this year. Now the OTIS-WEB page looks like this: Makes it feel a bit more rewarding to complete problem sets, I think. Also gives me the chance to plant easter eggs everywhere, which is always a lot of fun… Continue reading OTIS: The RPG
I reserved a Steam Deck!
I might be going too far with this Arch Linux brand loyalty, but I am so psyched I don't care. There's three pieces of hardware that I've always kind of wanted but never been willing to spend money on in isolation: A handheld gaming consoleA laptop with a touch screenA laptop with enough power to… Continue reading I reserved a Steam Deck!
Power Overwhelming 