Adam Pratt

I am a PhD Candidate in the Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago. My advisor is Brooke Shipley. I did my undergraduate work at Birmingham-Southern College in Birmingham, AL.

Here is a copy of my CV and resume (updated August 2023).

Current Research Interests/Future Goals:

• Applications of topological data analysis to biomedical sciences
• Expanding TDA in biomedicine into more areas of clinical practice, such as medical toxicology and addiction medicine
• Utilizing novel mathematical and computational techniques to strengthen clinical research to aid underserved populations in medicine

Thesis work/Previous Work in Pure Mathematics:

• Algebraic topology; specifically stable homotopy theory and derived algebraic geometry
• Algebraic models arising in derived algebraic geometry and equivariant stable homotopy theory
• Synthetic spectra, Adams spectral sequences, and Goerss-Hopkins obstruction theory in various contexts

Seminars organized:

• From Fall 2022-Spring 2023, I organized the Graduate Topological Data Analysis Seminar (syllabus).
  
• In Summer 2022, I organized the Graduate Algebraic K-theory Seminar on redshift and chromatic algebraic K-theory.
  
• In Spring 2019, I co-organized the Graduate Homotopy Theory Seminar on chromatic homotopy theory and the Graduate Student Colloquium.

Publications and Preprints:

• The culmination of two years of research in computational and algebraic number theory led us to discover wide variety examples of multi-quadratic fields for which a generalization of Artin's conjecture for primitive roots (due to the second author) holds true, culminating in the following publication:

A. Pratt, M. Stadnik, and M. Wachter, Units in Quadratic and Multi-Quadratic Fields, Alabama Journal of Mathematics 41 (2017), no. 1. [Journal].

Notes and talks:

None of these notes reflect my own original research; I don't take credit for any of the material in them. At the same time, they do reflect my understanding of the material, so any mistakes or gaps present are my own doing.


• Spring 2023: "Computing persistence barcodes of proteins using the GUDHI Package in Python," BIOS 594 Practical Biocomputing (Final project presentation).
  
• Spring 2023: "Persistent homology analysis of protein structure" PHYS 450 Molecular Biophysics of the Cell (Final project presentation). Notes.
  
• Summer 2022: "G-spectra and Mackey functors," UIC Graduate Algebraic K-theory Seminar. Notes.
  
• Fall 2022: "Simplicial Homology," UIC Graduate Topological Data Analysis Seminar.
  
• Fall 2022: "Simplicial complexes, Alpha Shapes, and Manifold Sweeps," UIC Graduate Topological Data Analysis Seminar.
  
• Summer 2022: "Mackey functors and equivariant algebraic K-theory," UIC Graduate Algebraic K-theory Seminar. Notes.
  
• Summer 2022: "G-spectra and Mackey functors," UIC Graduate Algebraic K-theory Seminar. Notes.
  
• Spring 2022: "Stable ∞-categories, Weinstein manifolds, and the Fukaya Category," UIC Graduate Geometry and Topology Seminar. Notes.
  
• Spring 2022: "Spaces with symmetry and their cohomology," UIC Graduate Student Colloquium. Notes.
  
• Spring 2022: "Stable homotopy groups of spheres and the Adams spectral sequence," UIC Graduate Geometry and Topology Seminar. Notes.
  
• Fall 2021: "Algebraic Models in Stable Homotopy Theory," UIC Graduate Geometry and Topology Seminar. Notes.
  
• Summer 2020: "p-Divisible Groups III," UIC Graduate Number Theory Seminar. Notes.
  
• Spring 2019: "Cohomologie étale: les points de départ," UIC Graduate Algebraic Geometry Seminar. Notes.
  
• Spring 2019: "Landweber Exactness and Morava E-Theory," UIC Graduate Homotopy Theory Seminar.
  
• Spring 2019: "Stacks?" UIC Graduate Homotopy Theory Seminar.
  
• Fall 2017: "Infinity Topoi: A Primer," UIC Graduate Infinity Categories Seminar.
  

Other research projects from undergrad:

• I participated in a year-long collaborative research project between myself, a professor at BSC, along with a professor and student at Rhodes College. The project used agent-based modeling (via the software NetLogo) to study a population of marmots who were interesting both for their apparent benefits experienced from climate change and their incredibly complex social structure. This work led to the following poster co-presented with Shushangxuan Li at a national conference:
  

  "An Agent-Based Model of Yellow-Bellied Marmots (Marmota flaviventris)," 7th International Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology: Education and Research, Harvey Mudd College.

Current courses:

In Fall 2023, I am a TA for the following courses:

• Math 170 (Calculus for the Life Sciences)
  
• Math 105 (Mathematical Reasoning)
  
• Math 110 (College Algebra)
  

My office hours for Fall 2023 are Tuesday/Thursday 12-1 in the MSLC.

Past courses:

• Summer 2023, Instructor of Record (94% Pass rate), Math 090 Summer Enrichment Workshop (Intermediate Algebra)
  
• Spring 2023, TA, Math 110 (College Algebra)
  
• Spring 2023, Grader, Math 310 (Applied Linear Algebra)
  
• Fall 2022, Grader, Math 310 (Applied Linear Algebra)
  
• Summer 2022, TA, Math 220 (Differential Equations)
  
• Spring 2022, TA, Math 105 (Mathematical Reasoning)
  
• Summer 2021, Instructor of Record (100% pass rate), Math 110 Summer Enrichment Workshop (College Algebra)
  
• Spring 2020, TA, Math 121 (Precalculus)
  
• Fall 2019, TA, Math 121 (Precalculus)
  
• Summer 2019, TA, Math 110 (College Algebra)
  
• Spring 2019, TA, Math 121 (Precalculus), Grader, Math 547 (Algebraic Topology I)
  
• Fall 2018, TA, Math 121 (Precalculus), Grader, Math 300 (Writing for Mathematics)
  
• Summer 2018, TA, Math 220 (Differential Equations)
  
• Spring 2018, TA, Math 121 (Precalculus)
  
• Fall 2017, TA, Math 121 (Precalculus)
  

Other teaching projects from undergrad:

• Under the supervision of the inorganic chemistry professor at BSC, I spent a January term writing expository notes and practice problems for a short workbook on basic abstract algebra/group theory and representation theory for inorganic chemistry students in order to help them understand the rigorous mathematical notions behind the point groups describing the symmetries found within inorganic molecules and the rotation matrices that described the point group operations.
  

  While the workbook was not published, a modified version is still used in the upper-level inorganic chemistry class to this day after a successful test on a focus group of first-year chemistry students involving me presenting the workbook material to them and helping them to work through some of the practice problems.

Art

• I spent a lot of time honing my skills in both monochrome and tri-color gum bichromate prints, notoriously difficult processes to master, as I'm always up for a challenge. One of my gum prints was selected for in an independently-curated student exhibition at BSC.
  
• I loved the chemistry aspect of film photography, especially making my own developers. My favorite homemade developer was a dupe for a classic B&W developer known as Rodinal, which I made out of a variety of household and laboratory chemicals, including acetaminophen tablets and sodium hydroxide, among others. It produced surprisingly beautiful results.
  
• In terms of new media, I mostly g͓̭̈́̕l̛̺͍͠ỉ̖͕͝t̪͒͊͜c͈̻̽͐ẖ̰̿̄ art, including techniques like sonification, file destruction, and a variety of algorithms (that I will take no credit for) using the art-centric programming language Processing to do things like pixel sorting and simulating the effects of composite video.
  
• For time-based media, I often incorporate animations into my glitch work, and I've recently been learning how to glitch video files, many filmed on an old vhs-c camcorder.
  
• Without diving too much into theory on a professional math page, my art deals with the idea of self-image and personal presentation among groups of people, and how individuals can often enforce their own insecurities onto those close to them. My art is technique heavy, and all of the techniques I utilize involve exploiting failure as part of the process; this failure and loss of control by the artist is meant to mimic the ways in which these enforced presentations of family units or friend groups are often faulty, and these faults show through, much in the way that faults inherent in the processes I utilize are what create the final image. Photography and family vacation photos both involve the art of lying with a camera.
  
• A small sampling of my art, from expensive watercolor pigments mixed with known carcinogens to hours spent fighting with my computer to create an image that was the perfect level of destroyed-- and then a few more hours photoshopping it to my liking.
  

Medical humanities

• I also did some work in undergrad in medical humanities: specifically the cultural history of death, culminating in my capstone project for the Harrison Honors Program, entitled "My Mother is a Fish: Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying as a Transitional Piece in the Cultural History of Death in the American South," (supervised by Dr. Mark Schantz, retired professor and department head of history, along with former provost at BSC) using the aforementioned novel by William Faulkner as a case study in the ways in which literature can inform the study of the cultural attitudes towards death and dying at a particular time and place in history.