Alex Fink
He/Him
gay
I’m a Reader in Pure Mathematics at Queen Mary University of London. I do research in algebraic combinatorics with a geometric flavour. I also supervise PhD students and teach mostly undergraduates.
I grew up in Calgary, Canada, where I’d been into math from a very young age. My role model there was Richard Guy, for the sense of fun he radiated through his mathematics. I discovered it first in his books but soon met him at the local math circle while in school; during my BSc he supervised me in undergraduate summer research projects for a couple years. My current research direction took shape during my PhD in Berkeley with Bernd Sturmfels and Federico Ardila. Federico’s work on diversity is a must-read: start with <https://www.ams.org/publications/journals/notices/201610/rnoti-p1164.pdf>. After three years as a postdoc at North Carolina State working with Seth Sullivant I got my current job and moved to London. My partner Sai, who I met in Berkeley, was able to join me here a few years later.