Phillip Kerger

I am a PhD candidate at Johns Hopkins University in the department of Applied Mathematics and Statistcs, working under the supervision of Prof. Amitabh Basu. I'm mostly interested in optimization and its applications, currently working on both classical and quantum algorithms and complexity. Difficult combinatorial problems, elegant algorithms with geometric interpretations, and how we can take advantage of quantum mechanics for efficient computation really fascinate me. I am currently working as a research intern at NASA QuAIL through USRA under the supervision of Dr. David E Bernal Neira and Dr. Eleanor Rieffel, with whom I am working on distributed quantum algorithms. I love teaching, and have taught a few courses as the primary instructor at JHU. I am a teaching fellow of the department of Applied Math and Statistics there, and have won multipe awards for my work as a teaching assistant at JHU. An overview of my teaching experience can be found here. Before joining JHU, I completed my bachelor's degree in mathematics at Fordham University, where I had the great pleasure of working with Kei Kobayashi on parameter estimation for heavy-tailed stochastic processes.

Primary Instructor

• The Role of Mathematical Optimization in the 21st Century (500.111). Fall 2022, Johns Hopkins University.
• Introduction to Scientific Programming in Python (553.285). Winter 2022, Johns Hopkins University.
• Introduction to Scientific Programming in Python (553.285). Winter 2021, Johns Hopkins University.

Teaching Assistantships

• Combinatorial Optimization 553.766, Spring 2022.
• Probability Theory II 553.721, Spring 2021.
• Stochastic Processes 553.626, Spring 2021.
• Probability Theory 553.720, Fall 2020.
• Introduction to Probability 553.420/620, Fall 2020.
• Introduction to Probability 553.420/620, Spring 2020.
• Scientific Computing: Differential Equations 553.384, Spring 2020.
• Introduction to Probability 553.420/620, Fall 2019.
• Mathematical Modeling and Consulting 553.600, Fall 2019.

Other Teaching

• INMAS Python Workshop. October 2021, Johns Hopkins University.
• Calculus Instructor, CSTEP Program Fordham University, Fall 2018 & Spring 2019.

Awards

• Prof. Joel Dean Award for excellence in teaching: 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22 (note: I did not teach in the 2022/23 academic year!)
• Whiting School of Engineering Teaching Award: 2022 finalist
• Promotion to JHU Applied Math and Statistics Apprentice Teaching Fellow 2021
• Promotion to JHU Applied Math and Statistics Teaching Fellow 2022