Max Mikel-Stites is a master’s graduate student at Virginia Tech in the Mathematics and BEAM departments. He grew up in Florida and moved to upstate New York to attend the University of Rochester, where he received degrees in Applied Math and Physics & Astronomy.
Max is most interested in modeling biological and ecological systems via applied mathematics, science communication, and outreach, and trying (and failing) to achieve work-life balance. Currently, his research focuses on understanding the mechanics behind the hearing abilities of O. ochracea, a parasitoid fly well-known for its ability to precisely locate its hosts by listening for them.
So far, Max’s greatest claims to fame are his outreach work providing a microfluidics-oriented explanation of Ant-Man and The Wasp’s suits with his advisor, Dr. Anne Staples, as well as his copious caffeine consumption. On the rare occasions when he has free time, Max enjoys reading, abstract dutch-pour painting, mixed-media sculpture, building and collecting mechanical keyboards, swimming, and once in a blue moon, playing video games, including the souls series, and death stranding.
Max Mikel-Stites 