Emma Zajdela

Mathematician at Princeton University and Santa Fe Institute | Science diplomacy in the Middle East

Princeton, New Jersey, United States

About

I am an Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Princeton University, based out of the High Meadows Environmental Institute (HMEI) and the Center for Policy Research on Energy and the Environment (C-PREE), a center of the School of Public and International Affairs, working with Professors Simon Levin and Michael Oppenheimer. My research focuses on developing mathematical models to understand and predict complex social phenomena. I have worked on topics ranging from the mathematics of poker, autonomous vehicles, scientific collaboration at conferences, and fashion trends using a variety of approaches including game theory and agent-based modeling. My current work employs a dynamical systems framework, which is then empirically validated with data. Since 2015, I have worked with the Malta Conferences Foundation, a non-profit organization that uses science for peace in the Middle East and currently serve as Senior Assistant to the President. In 2023, I was elected Treasurer and member of the Board of Directors. After receiving my French science baccalaureate in 2012 and completing a two-year intensive science and mathematics program at the College Stanislas in Paris, France, I pursued my undergraduate studies at Loyola University Chicago, receiving a Bachelors of Science cum laude in Mathematics, and in Theoretical Physics and Applied Mathematics, with a minor in international studies. In 2018, I received a Master of Science in Mathematics from the University of Illinois at Chicago. In 2023, I received my Ph.D. from the Department of Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics at Northwestern University, where my research was supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, the Buffett Institute Global Impacts Fellowship, and the NICO Intersection Science Fellowship. My advisor was Prof. Daniel Abrams. I am passionate about bringing my love of math and science to young people and the general public and have been active in outreach programs including Northwestern’s Applied Math in Action, SPLASH and the French “Maths en Jean.” I also have served as the Science Diplomacy chair of Northwestern’s Science Policy Outreach Taskforce (SPOT) and Treasurer of the Society for Industrial and Applied Math (SIAM) student chapter. A classically trained violinist, I love travel and learning languages, the most recent of which is Arabic. For more info, please visit my website: https://mathemmatician.com/

Experience

  • Siegel Research Fellow at Santa Fe Institute
    Oct 2024 - Present · 1 yr 10 mos

    "to recognize the contributions you have made to bring network and other forms of nonlinear analysis into the applied domain."

  • Princeton University (Full-time · 2 yrs 10 mos)
    • Postdoctoral Research Associate
      Sep 2025 - Present · 11 mos

    • IC Postdoctoral Research Fellow
      Oct 2023 - Sep 2025 · 2 yrs

      Research affiliations: High Meadows Environmental Institute (HMEI), Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology; Center for Policy Research on Energy and the Environment (C-PREE), School of Public and International Affairs Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Research Fellow with Simon Levin and Michael Oppenheimer at Princeton and Mark Bailey at NIU Project: Modeling the Dynamics of Complex Socio-Ecological Systems at the Nexus of Environmental Challenges, Scientific Collaboration, and Conflict

  • Malta Conferences Foundation (10 yrs 7 mos)
    • Treasurer and Member of the Board of Directors
      Jan 2023 - Present · 3 yrs 7 mos

    • Senior Assistant to the President
      Jan 2022 - Oct 2023 · 1 yr 10 mos

      The Malta Conferences address the shared desire to improve the quality of life and political stability in the Middle East. They serve to identify unique opportunities for collaboration to meet the scientific and technological challenges of the region. I support the President and the Board in all aspects of running the non-profit organization, including planning Malta Conferences "Frontiers of Science: Innovation, Research, and Education in the Middle East" (2017, 2019, 2021), raising funds, proposal writing, preparing abstracts and presentations for international conferences, meeting with participants in the region, communicating with Nobel Laureates and other dignitaries.

    • Assistant to the President
      Jan 2016 - Jan 2022 · 6 yrs 1 mo

  • PhD Candidate at Northwestern University
    Sep 2018 - Sep 2023 · 5 yrs 1 mo

    My research uses data-driven mathematical modeling to study complex social systems in order to better understand human behavior. Currently, my focus is on modeling the dynamics of scientific collaboration, particularly in regions of conflict.

  • Loyola University Chicago (2 yrs 4 mos)
    • Research Assistant
      Mar 2016 - Dec 2017 · 1 yr 10 mos

      Game theory and poker research project with Prof. Peter Tingley, Department of Mathematics.

    • Research Assistant
      Sep 2015 - Aug 2016 · 1 yr

      Performed and communicated data analysis for the Integrated Crop Pollination (ICP) Project funded by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).