Anand Kulkarni

As of 2009, this page is hopelessly out of date, but will be updated soon.

About Me

I'm a young scientist and mathematician in graduate school at the Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at UC Berkeley.

Contact

anandk (at) berkeley.edu

Research Interests

My research interests include:

I am interested, but not actively working, in:

Teaching

Spring 2007: (GSI) Methods of Manufacturing Improvement, IEOR 130, University of California, Berkeley
Fall 2006: (GSI) Introduction to Astronomy, Astronomy 10, University of California, Berkeley
Spring 2005: Research Seminar in Mathematical Modeling, Mathematics 191, University of California, Berkeley
Fall 2004: Human Physiology in Space, at Emiliano Zapata Oakland Street Academy
Summer 2003: High School Summer Space Academy by SSOAR at UC Berkeley

Publications and Other Writings

Bitton, E., Kulkarni, A., and Shlimovich, M.  "Two Tolls for Tollbooth Analysis."  UMAP award winner.
(listed as last author!) "Supernovae 2003dm, 2003dn, 2003do, 2003dp,2003dq, 2003dr." IAU Circular, 8117, 1 (2003).  

Talks

Increasing the Accuracy of SNe Identification at the SNF 8.7.2003

Research Projects (archived)

Neurotechnology

Nearby Supernova Factory

SSOAR Summer Space Academy at UC Berkeley (High School), Summer 2003

Historical Affiliations

I received my undergraduate degrees in pure mathematics and physics from the University of California, Berkeley, with special emphasis on computer science and philosophy.  My first introduction to scientific research took place at the Nearby Supernova Factory, a spin-off of the Supernova Cosmology Group in Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Division of Physics.  During my work there in the summer of 2003 I discovered four newly formed supernovae and worked on improving the automated pattern-recognition systems to automate the process.  

From March 2003 to May 2004 I co-managed the non-profit organization Space Science Outreach and Research, which worked with NASA Ames Research Center to develop a joint education and research program that used participation in hands-on research on human spaceflight to teach fundamental research skills to undergraduates and basic math and science skills to inner-city high school students. I was in the trenches teaching high school for a semester.

My freshman year in college, I was a player with the national-champion Cal Mock Trial team, as well as a singer in the UC Men's Chorale Ensemble, and too many other groups and societies to mention.  I very briefly played intramural ultimate frisbee and fenced with the Cal Fencing Club.  My sophomore year I worked as a public defender at the Student Advocate Office, where my major victories were having three student grades altered due to demonstrated faculty error and successfully exonerated two students falsely accused of cheating.  I additionally represented six or seven other students in various disciplinary and academic disputes with the University.

I also developed Cal's current program for the Mathematical Contest in Modeling, which is presently the strongest program of its kind in the world, fielding 20% of all Outstanding Winners in the 2005 contest and 25% of all special prize winners.  (On top of this, my own team won Outstanding Winner and the Ben Fusaro Prize in this contest).  Our team page is infrequently updated but the page for the associated mathematics class I ran is slightly more current.  I have also compiled my experience in this contest in written form as Kulkarni's Guide to the MCM.

The last major undertaking of my undergraduate career was the proposed development of a new kind of brain-computer communication interface using the motor signals associated with speech and language synthesis.  An extended abstract for the project can be found here and the project's poster can be found here. The idea is still viable but the proposed experiments didn't materialize while the development team was dealing with the burdens of student life.