Hi!

I’m a second-year PhD student in mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania, working with Mona Merling. My pronouns are she or they.

My research interests are in homotopy theory and category theory. I spend a lot of time thinking about how we can make math more accessible and friendly, both narrowly in our exposition and teaching, and broadly in how we engage with mathematical communities and mathematical culture.

You can contact me at rshahar@sas.upenn.edu or book a meeting.

About Me

• I co-organize the graduate pizza seminar and run lots of departmental social activities at Penn. During summers, I teach at Canada/USA Mathcamp. With Nooria Ahmed, I organize the AMTRaK conference.
• Before Penn, I was a mathematics-computer science major at Reed College. My undergraduate thesis, supervised by Angélica Osorno and Adam Groce on categorical models of cryptography, was honored with the Class of ‘21 Award. I was an organizer of both the math and CS student groups, and I co-organized the CS peer mentorship program and the math student colloquium.
• Near the end of undergrad, I wrote some thoughts on computer science as a liberal art in Reed’s student paper. More personally, I was interviewed for Reed Magazine’s What is a Reedie series, where I talked about my thesis and broader Reed experience.
• I am honored to be supported by the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship and by the University of Pennsylvania’s Benjamin Franklin Fellowship.