David Palmer

David Palmer is a postdoc in the Mahadevan Lab at Harvard University.

Palmer is interested in the geometry and dynamics of topological defects in optimization problems. More broadly, he works at the intersection of applied geometry, optimization, and physics. He will be on the academic job market in fall 2024.

Palmer completed his PhD in the Geometric Data Processing Group at MIT, working with Professor Justin Solomon. His work applied convex relaxation techniques to simplify challenging geometric optimization problems featuring topological barriers. He was lucky enough to work with many excellent collaborators, including outstanding undergraduates.

Prior to his PhD, Palmer studied math at Cambridge and computer science at Harvard. He interned at Pixar Research, where he helped build geometry and physics simulation tools for artists, and at Flagship Labs, where he was in the inaugural class of AI Fellows.

In his spare time, Palmer enjoys singing, improv comedy, baking breads and pastries, and (in a prior life) keeping bees.