About Me

I am an Assistant Professor at St. Thomas University. Before that, I was a Norbert Wiener Assistant Professor at Tufts University. I was fortunate to have as a PhD advisor Prof. Francois Baccelli at the University of Texas at Austin. My research interests are in the broad area of Probability with its multifaceted interrelations with pure and applied mathematics. I am very much interested in interdisciplinary research and have collaborations outside of mathematics. I try to find interesting problems related to opinion dynamics. Lately I have been focusing on mathematical models looking into election outcomes. I am always looking to meet more people in this space, so feel free to connect with me via email.

I completed my undergraduate studies in mathematics at MIT, where my advisor was Gigliola Staffilani.

Since January 2023, I serve as the General Secretary of the International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Research

My research focus centers on studying how people’s opinions evolve with time. That question I tackle from several different aspects and with different mathematical tools.

During my PhD I used the tools from stochastic geometry and dynamical systems to study a problem inspired by opinion dynamics.

My more recent projects can be more broadly classified as applying probability to social science problems.

On a more applied side, I have worked on a project that modeled people’s Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy over time, starting with CDC’s initial hesitancy data. In this project we model with whom people interact over time and introduce the possibility of mega-influecers. The possibility of mega-influencers turns out to be one possible explanation for the general lag in Covid-19 vaccines despite the general willigness of people to get vaccinated.

I have also worked on a project in which we derived a differential-integral equation akin to the Hegselmann-Krause model of opinion dynamics, and proposed a particle method for solving the equation.

With a team at Tufts University we have also studied the evolution of political candidate’s positions in order to win the elections. Not surprisingly, the strategy changes based on the political position of the voters and some other assumptions. You can check out our application to ODEs lecture and use the interactive streamlit app. You can read more about the mathematics behind it or apply it to your ODEs class. We welcome any feedback you have on either of these projects.

Working with Undergraduate Students

If you are a student at St. Thomas interested in working on some project, I will be part of CAM Summer research. I encourage you to talk to me and apply! All my research experiences with undergraduates have been very positive and I look forward to working with more students in the future. Below is a small summary of previous projects.

During the Summer 2024, I was a mentor for St. Thomas Center of Applied Mathematics Summer Research program. I supervised three students in two projects. You can read more about the project.

During the Summer 2023, I was a mentor for a Tufts student on social networks and opinion dynamics. This summer project was supported by Tufts DISC SEED Grant.

During the Summer 2022, I was a mentor for Tufts T-TRIPODS DIAMONDS Summer Research program. My mentee, Micah Payton, presented our work at REUNS 2022.

Teaching

Here is a list of classes I taught at St. Thomas University

Fall 2024 Math 114 Calculus II and STAT 313 Probability

Spring 2024 - Math 114 Calculus II and Math 313 Probability

Fall 2023 - Math 113 Calculus I and Math 313 Probability

Here is a list of classes I taught at Tufts University.

Spring 2023 - Math 133 Complex Analysis

Fall 2022 - Math 165 Undergraduate Probability

Summer 2022 - Math 123 Mathematical Aspects of Data Science

Spring 2022 - Math 123 Complex Analysis and Math 42 Calculus III

Fall 2021 - Math 165 Undergraduate Probability

Spring 2020 - Math 133 Complex Analysis and Math 42 Calculus III

Fall 2020 - Math 42 Calculus III

In addition to regular teaching, I also gave a Putnam Competition lesson on inequalities. You can download the problems here. I gave an introduction to graphs lecture at a high school in Brazil in the Summer of 2024. I am open to collaborating and giving a talk at your high school.

Every Summer between 2018 and 2022, I was one of the coaches of the US Astronomy and Astrophysics Team that represents the US at the International Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad (IOAA). You can read more about my involvement in the Educational Outreach Section.

Educational Outreach

I am very grateful for all the opportunities I had growing up, such as learning from smart and passionate people. It brings me joy to be able to pay it forward and pass some of the knowledge to the younger generation.

The International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics

Since January 2023, I serve as the General Secretary of the International Olympiad in Astronomy and Astrophysics. In this role I help local organizers with the event, help bring new participating countries and help with future hosts of the event. If your country does not have a team but you would like to, talk to me about getting started.

Before becoming a General Secretary of the IOAA, I served as the President of USA Astronomy and Astrophysics Organization between November 2018 and November of 2021. In that role, I helped coordinate and run the USA Astronomy and Astrophysics Competition. During that time, USAAF succesfully switched to fully virtual local competition. USAAF managed to send the teams to in person, hybrid and virtual editions of the International Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad. I am still involved in the USAAF activities as a board member.

In 2018 I was also a coach and a team leader and we returned from China with historic results, our team got two gold (including best in theory), one silver, one bronze, and one honorable mention. Link to article.

In 2019 I also was a coach and a team leader of the team that represented USA at the International Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad in Hungary. That was the first time US sent two teams to the IOAA. The team achieved great results with 2 gold (best in data analysis), 2 silver, and 4 bronze medals. In addition, the team got an honorable mention and prize for the best poster. Link to article.

In 2020, due to the global pandemic, the competition was held online as a special edition, called the Global e-Competition on Astronomy and Astrophysics (GeCAA).

In 2021, the host country Colombia, decided to organize the IOAA in a hybrid format. This meant that the US IOAA Team traveled to Boston and took the exam under supervision of the USAAAO volunteers. I coordinated student’s stay together with the US team leaders. The competition went smoothly, and the students got 2 gold, 5 silver and 3 bronze medals. Link to article

In 2022, in addition to coaching, I am also went as a team leader to the International Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad in Georgia. Students did a great job, winning 3 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze medals. Link to article

The goal of USAAAO is to promote Astronomy and Astrophysics among high school students and to help them learn about current research directions. If you want to know more about our organization and get involved please check out USA Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad website (https://usaaao.org) and email us at info@usaaao.org with any questions.

In Poland during a press conference promoting IOAA.

Directed Reading Program

Since the Fall 2016 till Fall 2018 I also served as an organizer and mentor for the Directed Reading Program (DRP). DRP aims to connect undergraduates interested in mathematics with graduate students in mathematics to read a book over the course of the semester and learn to present their progress in the subject.

While at Tufts University, I served as the Faculty Advisor for the local chapter of the DRP.

Saturday Morning Math Group

In the Fall 2015 gave a talk titled “Cube and its Magic” for the Saturday Morning Math group, mathematics department outreach aimed at school students and exposing them to interesting mathematical concepts. The power point presentation and the supplemental files can be found here. Link to Presentation Link to Supplemental.

In the News

Here are some news articles that talk about my research.

MIT Technology Review: Alumni News Profile

SIAM News article on Political Centrism and Extremism

St. Thomas Newsroom article on Using Math to Predict Wins at the Ballot Box

You can watch the closing ceremony of the IOAA in Brazil via this Youtube link.

Together with prof. Aniket Sule and prof. Greg Stachowski, we gave a IAU Division C seminar about IOAA and how to get started. You can watch the recording via this Youtube link.

Contact

Feel free to email me about math research or IOAA related questions at natasa “dot” dragovic “at” stthomas “dot” edu.