Dylan Shepardson

  • Robert L. Rooke Associate Professor of Mathematics
Dylan Shepardson

Dylan Shepardson works on mathematical problems that are motivated by applications in other disciplines, like biology, epidemiology, sociology, or archaeology. He is especially interested in new and unusual applications of optimization theory. In most physical, biological, and economic systems, a property is being optimized (like energy or entropy in physical systems, or reproductive success in evolutionary biology), and optimization techniques offer interesting insights into these systems. Shepardson's recent projects include voting theory and its connections to combinatorial geometry, infectious disease modeling, and the problem of using collections of radiocarbon data to estimate dates of the earliest human settlements of Pacific islands.

Education

  • Ph.D., Georgia Institute of Technology
  • M.A., University of California - Berkeley
  • B.A., Amherst College

HAPPENING AT MOUNT HOLYOKE

Recent Campus News

Mount Holyoke College student Alexandra Mihailopol ’26 has been selected by Middlebury College as a recipient of a Projects for Peace grant. She will offer financial literacy education to women in rural Romania via her EmpowHER project.

Mount Holyoke senior Qiao Se Ong ’25 is among the 2025 cohort for Projects for Peace. Her project, based in Colombia, aims to address the impact of dam construction on local communities through creative workshops and collaborations with local artists.

Craig Woodard, Christianna Smith Professor of Biological Sciences, has been recognized as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Recent Grants

Margaret Robinson PI with Co-PIs Giuliana Davidoff, Dylan Shepardson and Jessica Sidman (Mathematics) received a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for “Collaborative Proposal: Hudson River Undergraduate Mathematics Conference 2020-2022” – with Keene and Siena Colleges. The project is for three years.

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