Activities

Here are some of my recent and current research, teaching, and outreach activities. Many of them took place in Bosnia-Herzegovina since I am from there and travel back frequently.

Research

•  I am currently (2023-24) supervising research projects on 

  • • hypergraphs and political structures, 

    • topological approach to simple games,

    • simplicial complex models for liquid democracy,

    • power distribution in the UN Security Council.

• In recent years, I supervised research projects on 

  • • category-theoretic approach to Arrow's Impossibility Theorem,

    • simplicial complexes and power indices with forbidden coalitions,

    • effect of alternative sizes and apportionments of House of Representatives on presidential elections,

    • topological data analysis and Unicef MICS surveys, 

    • topological data analysis and the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S.,

    • combinatorial topology in political systems,

    • mathematics in political discourse,

    • political quantitative literacy in K-12 education,

    • the effectiveness of independent districting commissions on competitiveness.  

• I am an inaugural recipient of the AMS-Simons Foundation Research Enhancement Grant for the period of three years starting in 2023.

• I was selected to be a Fulbright Specialist for a period of three years starting in 2020.

• I was a recipient of the 2017-2018 Fulbright U.S. Research Scholar grant.  I used it to visit University of Sarajevo while on sabbatical during the spring 2018 semester.  Here is an interview (in Bosnian) about my visit and some of the activities I was engaged in. 

• I am advising a doctoral student, Ivana Marić, at University of Sarajevo.

• I advised a doctoral student, Franjo Šarčević, at University of Sarajevo. He defended his thesis in March 2020.

• I supervised independent research and honors theses on partial configuration spaces and r-immersions, Tverberg Conjecture and functor calculus, topological data analysis, Frobenius algebras and TQFTs, Khovanov homology and functor calculus, algebraic topology, Hochschild homology, differential geometry, advanced ODEs, math behind Google, knot theory, and cryptography.

Mathematics and Democracy

• I am coorganizing a conference Mathematics of Voting and Representation taking place in June 2024 at the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences in Edinburgh, Scotland.

• I was a guest moderator for a panel on the Electoral College at MIT's Rhetoric class in December 2023.

• I coorganized the event 2024 Elections: One Year Out that took place at Wellesley and was livestreamed on YouTube in November 2024.

• I coorganized a workshop on Mathematical Foundations for Democratic Processes as part of the American Mathematical Society's new Engaged Pedagogy series in April 2023.

• I coorganized a Special Session on Mathematical Foundations of Democracy at the Joint Math Meetings in Boston in January 2023.

• I coorganized a Special Session on Math and Politics: Perspectives in Research and Teaching at the AMS Sectional Meeting at University of Massachusetts in October 2022.

• I coorganized the 2nd Annual Conference in Mathematics and Politics that took place in May 2022.

• I coorganized the conference Mathematics and Politics: Numeracy at the Ballot Box that took place in May 2021.

• In January 2021, I taught a short course on social choice theory and game theory in the doctoral Global Studies program at the University of Sarajevo's Center for Interdisciplinary Studies.

• Since 2019, I have taught a class on Mathematics and Politics several times (including in Wellesley’s First Year Seminar program and as a short workshop . Check out the teaching modules the students made in two of those classes. 

• I co-founded the Institute for Mathematics and Democracy in 2019.

• I have been supervising independent studies on mathematics and politics, one focusing on new applications of some classical power indices and another on some combinatorial topology aspects of voting theory.

• Since 2019, I have been giving talks on mathematics and democracy, including at the Albright Institute for Global Affairs, Wellesley High School, etc. Some of the slides from the talks I gave on this topic can be found on the talks page.

• I taught a class on cryptography and privacy in Wellesley’s First Year Seminar program in spring 2015. 

Bosnia-Herzegovina

• For the last ten years, I have been a member of and actively involved with the Bosnian-Herzegovinian American Academy of Arts and Sciences (BHAAAS).  I joined the Board of Directors of this organization in 2014, served as its treasurer from 2015 to 2019, and as its president in 2021-22. I organized the 10th Annual Meeting of BHAAAS in October 2016 at Wellesley College.

• I participated in the panel discussion Geography is history with panelists from USAID and the Bosnian Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees at the 14th Days of BHAAAS in Tuzla, Bosnia.

• I was the lead organizer of the 13th Days of BHAAAS in Bosnia-Herzegovina that took place in Sarajevo, June 23-26, 2022. This was one of the largest scientific meeting in the Balkans, consisting of 32 symposia in a variety of disciplines, with 300 speakers from 22 countries. The overaching theme of the conference was sustainability. Here and here are a couple of my appearance on Bosnian television advertising the conference. 

• I coorganized the 12th Days of BHAAAS in Bosnia-Herzegovina that took place in Mostar, June 24-27, 2021 (originally scheduled for June '20 but postponed due to the pandemic).

• I have been engaged in a number of STEM education initiatives in Bosnia-Herzegovina in recent years.  Some of the talks I gave on this topic can be found on the talks page.

• I helped organize the panel discussion University Research and Development Perspectives at the University of Sarajevo in February 2021.

• I coorganized the first 3-minute Ph.D. competition for Bosnian doctoral students in October 2020.

• I was a member of the program commiittee for the Meditteranean Forum Data Science conference (MeFDATA2020) in October 2020.

• I coorganized the 11th Days of BHAAAS in Bosnia-Herzegovina that took place in June 2019, in Sarajevo.  I also organized a panel on STEM education in Bosnia-Herzegovina as part of the conference.  Panelists included faculty from high schools and universities, parents, and representatives from NGOs and industry. Here is an article, and here and here are a couple of my appearances on Bosnian television (all in Bosnian), advertising the conference and the STEM panel, as well as discussing the education in Bosnia in general.

• I coorganized the 10th Days of BHAAAS in Bosnia that took place in June 2018.  I was the chair of the Symposium on Applied Mathematics and delivered several lectures at the conference (here is an article, in Bosnian, about some of the talks, including mine, and here and here are a couple of my appearances on Bosnian television advertising the conference).

• In March 2019, I participated in the Transfer of Knowledge program run by the Diaspora Sector of the Bosnian Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees.  I gave a number of lectures and talked to students about mentorship and opportunities in mathematics.

• In spring 2018, I joined the Board of Directors of EDUS - Education For All.  This wonderful organization provides assistance for education of children with developmental delays at preschool and elementary school level.  Please consider supporting their important work.

• In 2015, I started helping BOSANA Foundation from Sarajevo, Bosnia, and served as a mentor for one of its scholarship recipients. I urge you to check out all their wonderful work and support them in any way you can.

Other Activities

• I am featured in the documentary film Counted Out.

• I am a member of the Advisory Council of Rank the Vote.

• I was a member of the Faculty Advisory Council of The Albright Institute for Global Affairs.

• I was an Invited participant in the expert workshop Modernizing Math: Designing the Future of Math Education in October 2023. The workshop was sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; focus was on designing strategies, policies, and practices to improve math education for Black, Latine, disabled, low-income, and multilingual students.