French Graduate Seminars Michaelmas Term 2023

I'm interested in the physics of how organisms move through and navigate complex environments. Modern biomechanics is in a really exciting place because we finally have the experimental and mathematical tools to develop a larger understanding of the natural world: past, present, and future. Understanding how a motile organism interacts with its environment can provide insight into the evolutionary history of its design, as well as into design principles for the development of bioinspired synthetic systems. The aim of my research is to (try to!) understand physical principles behind natural mechanical design, as well as how and why variation (either through plasticity of a single unit or population-level variability) arises and persists in biomechanical systems. I use both theoretical and empirical (laboratory + field) methods, and have worked on a variety of systems, from proteins to bacteria to geckos.

Selected publications

A full list of publications can be found here: https://nirodylab.uchicago.edu/publications.html

Research awards and grants

Rising Stars in Soft and Biological Matter, University of Chicago, 2020
APS Award for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Research in Biological Physics, 2018
James S. McDonnell Foundation Fellowship in Studying Complex Systems, 2017
Moore-Sloan Data Science Fellowship, 2015-2017
New York University Presidential Honors Scholarship, 2004-2008

Dr Jane Tan

Mathematics

PhB, DPhil

Post-Doctoral Research Fellow since 2023

I am a mathematician working in combinatorics. My current projects focus on reconstruction problems (of graphs as well as other mathematical objects), structural graph theory, probabilistic combinatorics, and questions at the interface of combinatorics and geometry or topology.

Background

DPhil in Mathematics, St John’s College, Oxford (2019-2023)
PhB (Science) with Honours in Mathematics, Australian National University (2015-2018)

Research Interests

Graph theory
Combinatorics

Selected publications

Induced subgraphs of induced subgraphs of large chromatic number, to appear in Combinatorica (with António Girão, Freddie Illingworth, Emil Powierski, Michael Savery, Alex Scott and Youri Tamitegama).
Counting partitions of G(n,1/2) with degree congruence conditions. Random Structures and Algorithms, vol. 62, no. 3 (2023), 564–584 (with Paul Balister, Emil Powierski and Alex Scott).
Reconstructing the degree sequence of a sparse graph from a partial deck. Journal of Combinatorial Theory, Series B, vol. 157 (2022), 283–293 (with Carla Groenland, Tom Johnston, Andrey Kupavskii, Kitty Meeks and Alex Scott).

Personal website: https://people.maths.ox.ac.uk/tanj/

Professor Noam Yuchtman

Economics

BA, PhD

University Academic Fellow since 2023

My research is focused on topics in the fields of political economy, economic history, and labor economics. First, the importance of educational content and the structure of educational institutions in the production of human capital. Second, the political economy of legal institutions: particularly how they affect labor market outcomes and development, and how they are affected by political institutions in which they are embedded. Third, the study of social interactions that shape economic and political behavior. Fourth, the drivers of political ideology and participation in political movements. Finally, the role of the state in promoting economic growth and innovation.

Link to CV

Contact:noam.yuchtman@economics.ox.ac.uk

Background

Professor of Management, London School of Economics (2019-2024)
Associate Professor, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley (2016-2020)
Assistant Professor, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley (2010-2016)
PhD, economics, Harvard University (2010)
BA, economics, Williams College (2005)

Research Interests

Political economy
Economic history
Labour economics

Selected publications

1. “AI-tocracy,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 138(3), pp. 1349-1402, 2023 (joint with Martin Beraja, Andrew Kao, and David Y. Yang)

2. “Protests as Strategic Games: Experimental Evidence from Hong Kong’s Anti-Authoritarian Movement,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 134(2), pp. 1021-1077, 2019 (joint with Davide Cantoni, David Y. Yang, and Y. Jane Zhang)

3. “Curriculum and Ideology,” Journal of Political Economy, 125(2), pp. 338-392, 2017 (joint with Davide Cantoni, Yuyu Chen, David Y. Yang, and Y. Jane Zhang)

4. “Understanding Mechanisms Underlying Peer Effects: Evidence from a Field Experiment on Financial Decisions,” Econometrica, 82(4), pp. 1273-1301, 2014 (joint with Leonardo Bursztyn, Florian Ederer, and Bruno Ferman)

5. “Medieval Universities, Legal Institutions, and the Commercial Revolution,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 129(2), pp. 823-887, 2014 (joint with Davide Cantoni)

6. “Coercive Contract Enforcement: Law and the Labor Market in 19th Century Industrial Britain,” American Economic Review, 103(1), pp. 107-144, 2013 (joint with Suresh Naidu)

Other professional memberships and roles