jonathan novak received a phd in mathematics from queen's university, canada. he was a postdoctoral fellow at the mathematical sciences research institute in 2010 and an instructor in applied mathematics at mit from 2011 to 2015, when he joined the ucsd faculty. his research uses tools from algebraic combinatorics to understand the exact enumerative structure and approximate high-dimensional behavior of multivariate special functions arising in random matrix theory, representation theory, and mathematical physics.