I am an Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Princeton University, based out of the High Meadows Environmental Institute (HMEI) and the Center for Policy Research on Energy and the Environment (C-PREE), a center of the School of Public and International Affairs, where I work with Professors Simon Levin and Michael Oppenheimer. View my CV.
Email: emma.zajdela@princeton.edu
Bio: My research focuses on developing mathematical models to understand and predict complex social phenomena. I have worked on topics ranging from the mathematics of poker, autonomous vehicles, scientific collaboration at conferences, and fashion trends using a variety of approaches including game theory and agent-based modeling. My current work employs a dynamical systems framework, which is then empirically validated with data. Since 2015, I have worked with the Malta Conferences Foundation, a non-profit organization that uses science for peace in the Middle East and currently serve as Senior Assistant to the President. In 2023, I was elected Treasurer and member of the Board of Directors.
After receiving my French science baccalaureate in 2012 and completing a two-year intensive science and mathematics program at the College Stanislas in Paris, France, I pursued my undergraduate studies at Loyola University Chicago, receiving a Bachelors of Science cum laude in Mathematics, and in Theoretical Physics and Applied Mathematics, with a minor in international studies. In 2018, I received a Master of Science in Mathematics from the University of Illinois at Chicago. In 2023, I received my Ph.D. from the Department of Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics at Northwestern University, where my research was supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, the Buffett Institute Global Impacts Fellowship, and the NICO Intersection Science Fellowship. My advisor was Prof. Daniel Abrams.
I am passionate about bringing my love of math and science to young people and the general public and have been active in outreach programs including Northwestern’s Applied Math in Action, SPLASH and the French “Maths en Jean.” I also have served as the Science Diplomacy chair of Northwestern’s Science Policy Outreach Taskforce (SPOT) and Treasurer of the Society for Industrial and Applied Math (SIAM) student chapter. A classically trained violinist, I love travel and learning languages, the most recent of which is Arabic. My latest project is to start sharing code for generating beautiful mathematically-inspired images (math-art).
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News *click on image for pdf of the articles*
May 11, 2023: I was selected to receive an Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, which will support my research at Princeton with Prof. Simon Levin and Prof. Michael Oppenheimer.
December 9, 2022: Talk at the 5th African Conference on Research in Chemical Education hosted at Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt about “Catalyzing collaborations: The chemistry of team formation in virtual and in-person settings.”
November 21, 2022: Presented a poster on “Catalyzing scientific team formation at in-person and virtual conferences” at The Third Middle-Eastern Materials Science Conference hosted at NYU Abu Dhabi, UAE.
October 4, 2022: Our paper “Dynamics of social interaction: Modeling the genesis of scientific collaboration” was published as a Letter in Physical Review Research and is fully open-access. Read the paper here.
August 4, 2022: My coauthors and I received the 2022 Carl B. Allendoerfer award from the Mathematical Association of America for our paper “When to Hold ‘Em” published in Mathematics Magazine. The award for an expository research article was presented at the MAA MathFest in Philadelphia. Read about the project here.
June 2022: Talk at the International Conference on the Science of Science and Innovation (ICSSI), National Academy of Sciences, Washington DC
March 29, 2022: Interview published in Advanced Science News: “Computer model determines how conferences can be primed for collaboration – Researchers have harnessed the power of math and data to understand how they can better foster collaboration at scientific conferences.” Read the full article here.
March 14, 2022: News release “Are conferences worth the time and money?” is now live! Read it here on Northwestern Now and here on AAAS’s Eurekalert.
February 10, 2022: Invited to give a workshop to the Northwestern Transportation Club on “Introduction to Agent-Based Modeling Through NetLogo with Applications to Transportation Systems.”
January 21, 2022: Article about conferences and collaboration published in SIAM News.
January 11, 2022: Presented my work on “Accelerating Adoption of Disruptive Technologies: The Impact of COVID-19 on Intentions to Use Autonomous Vehicles” with Maher Said at the Transportation Research Board (TRP) Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.
December 15, 2021: New paper titled “Catalyzing collaborations: Prescribed interactions at conferences determine team formation” with Kimberly Huynh, Andy Wen, Andrew Feig, Richard Wiener and Daniel M. Abrams up on ArXiv. Read it here: arxiv.org/abs/2112.08468.
October 26, 2021: Gave a talk at the Conference on Complex Systems (CCS) Complex Systems Society in Lyon, France. The talk was titled “Catalyzing Collaborations: A Model for the Dynamics of Team Formation at Conferences” and was part of the session on Social Complexity.
August 3, 2021: In this interview by The Graduate School at Northwestern, I discuss how my grandma never forgave me for not becoming a dolphin trainer, my childhood love for reading biographies and historical fiction with a flashlight, my belief in the importance of international scientific collaborations and my current work.
August 1, 2021: New paper on “Accelerating the Adoption of Disruptive Technologies: The Impact of COVID-19 on Intention to Use Self-Driving Vehicles“ with Maher Said and Prof. Amanda Stathopoulos on ArXiv. We find that willingness to adopt autonomous vehicles increased during COVID, especially for individuals who are younger, liberal and frequent users of shared modes. Read more on ArXiv.
June 23, 2021: Paper on game theory and poker titled “When to Hold ‘Em“ with Prof. Peter Tingley and Kaity Parsons published in Mathematics Magazine. In it, we analyze a simplified poker game and answer the question: given a hand, should you bet, bluff or pass and for how much? We show bluffing is necessary and slow-playing on high hands is viable. Read more.
June 7-11, 2021: Splash Talk at the 12th Annual Science of Team Science Conference hosted by Virginia Tech held online.
June 3, 2021: 2021 Winner of the MENA Languages and Culture Award for Outstanding Achievement in Second-Year Arabic by the Northwestern MENA Languages Program.
May 5, 2021: Received a Student Travel Award for the SIAM Conference on Applications of Dynamical Systems (DS21) to be held virtually on May 23 – 27, 2021 where I was invited to present in the minisymposium on “Dynamical Systems Approaches for Biological and Cultural Evolution”.
April 28, 2021: Received a URAP grant with my advisor, Prof. Danny Abrams for an undergraduate research assistant to work with us on a brand new project. Details forthcoming!
April 27, 2021: Interview about my experience during the COVID-19 pandemic published in McCormick Magazine. Read the full interview here.
April 1, 2021: Article titled “Malta X Anniversary and COVID-19” with Prof. Zafra Lerman published in Chemistry International. We discuss a brief history of the Malta Conferences, the upcoming 10th anniversary, and two virtual Malta Conferences during the pandemic. Read the article here.
March 16, 2021: Talk at the American Physical Society (APS) 2021 March Meeting in the session on “Physics of Social Interactions”.
March 10, 2021: Third session titled “Catching the Eyes of Policymakers and Press: How to Communicate Your Science on Social Media“ by Dr. Scott Collis from Argonne National Labs and Dr. Sarah Perdue from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
March 1, 2021: Second session titled “Introduction to Science Policy Memo Writing“ by Dr. Adriana Bankston from the Journal of Science Policy and Governance.
February 23, 2021: First session in the series “Science Policy Communication in the Age of COVID-19” organized by Emily Schafer and I as members of the Board of the Science Policy Outreach Taskforce (SPOT). Session titled “Eyes on Your Data: Tips on Creating Infographics for the Public and Policymakers“ by Patricia Reese from the Institute for Policy Research.
January 25, 2021: I organized and moderated a virtual talk as part of the SPOT Science Diplomacy Series with Dr. Fadila Boughanemi, Deputy Head of Unit for Asia, Africa, and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) at the European Commission, Directorate General for Research and Innovation. Her lecture was titled “EU International Cooperation Strategy in Research and Innovation – A Contribution to Science Diplomacy” and focused on the EU’s science diplomacy activities in Africa and MENA countries . View a recording of the event.
September 3, 2020: Passed my qualifying exam with my thesis committee. I am officially a PhD Candidate!
July 31, 2020: Received a Northwestern Buffett Institute Global Impacts Graduate
Fellowship for the 2020-2021 academic year. The fellowship provides financial and programmatic support to an interdisciplinary cohort of about 20 graduate students engaged in scholarship related to Northwestern Buffett’s mission of exploring and addressing global challenges. See details.
April 21, 2020: My team composed of Maher Said (Northwestern Civil Engineering), Eugene Wickett (Northwestern Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences) and I won the 2020 Supply Chain Data Analytics competition hosted by Loyola Quinlan School of Business and the Northwestern University Transportation Center, in partnership with Redwood Logistics and FreightWaves. Articles about the competition here, here and here.