Resume

Bachelors

Colgate University

Applied Mathematics and Physics Double Major with Coursework in Computer Science

GPA: 3.96 / 4.00 Overall and 4.00 / 4.00 in Majors

• Data Analysis
• Statistical Learning
• Combinatorics
• Real Analysis
• Lagrangian Mechanics
• Nonlinear Dynamics & Chaos
• Quantum Mechanics
• Electronics
• Object-Oriented Programming

High-Performance Computing Intern

National Security Agency

High performance data movement for large-scale compute systems

• Co-developed a multithreaded C file-transfer utility slated to replace the incumbent HPC transfer tool, outperforming every alternative benchmarked; raised sustained throughput over a 200 Gbit/s InfiniBand fabric by 29% over the incumbent on RAM-backed storage and 32% on a Lustre parallel filesystem
• Designed the tool's shipped congestion-control algorithm, keyed on delivery rate and minimum RTT rather than packet loss: 260% higher throughput than TCP CUBIC on a lossy emulated WAN and 74% lower transfer time on high-bandwidth-delay paths, eliminating a throughput-collapse failure mode
• Delivered weekly progress presentations to interns and staff; co-authored the project's technical paper and a second paper documenting the team's AI-assisted software engineering workflow, for use as an internal resource

Undergraduate Teaching Assistant

Colgate University, Physics Department

• Teaching Assistant, PHYS 125 Introductory Physics (Fall 2026): leading discussion sections and holding office hours
• Course Teaching Assistant, Introduction to Quantum Mechanics and Special Relativity (Spring 2026): led homework discussion sections and held office hours
• Laboratory Teaching Assistant, Digital and Analog Electronics (Spring 2026): supported laboratory experiments and circuit troubleshooting

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Colgate University, Geography Laboratory

Designed and built remote sensing devices

• Integrated CH₄ and CO₂ sensors with an Arduino microcontroller for AQUA-Flux, a low-cost autonomous floating chamber for long-term monitoring of gasses in wetlands
• Programmed the Arduino microcontroller for actuator movement, data collection and reporting over the I²C protocol
• Design and code at github.com/ojaroker/AQUA_Flux_Colgate

Teaching Assistant

Art of Problem Solving

TA for Middle School Science Contest

• Prepared students for the Science Olympiad through hands-on demonstrations and experiments in optics, circuits, mechanics, robotics, electricity and magnetism
• Guided 18 students through complex concepts and problem-solving, fostering collaboration and critical thinking
• Prepared and organized all materials, ensuring smooth execution of lessons and Olympiad practice

Corporate Finance Intern

Pfizer Corporate Treasury

Financial modeling and analysis of corporate treasury operations

• Conducted financial research of pharmaceutical industry by coding drug-industry benchmarking program, accessing Bloomberg data through Python API, to compare key company metrics across peer groups
• Simulated and reproduced S&P/Moody's credit rating of Pfizer debt to understand the credit rating process
• Developed pricing simulator for interest-rate swaps using Bloomberg API and R programming language to understand how interest rate movements might affect Pfizer’s portfolio
• Presented results through multiple PowerPoint presentations to Capital Markets, Capital Strategy, Risk Management groups to show how company metrics and potential movements could impact future strategy

Instructor

International Ivy Summer Enrichment Program

Taught middle school students electronics

• Taught Arduino and Makey Makey courses by building off of the existing curriculum to provide half-day instruction to students ages 8-14, developing their collaboration, design, and programming skills
• Awarded bonus as a top instructor based on positive feedback from students & parents

Osborn Mathematics Prize

Colgate University, Dept of Mathematics

Awarded for achieving the highest score on a 3rd-year level mathematics exam

RIT Physics Olympiad

Second Place

Won second place out of 23 teams in 2025 and received a cash prize

MCM Competition

Honorable Mention

Developed a model to predict 2028 Olympics medals distribution, presenting findings in a 25-page report. Designated as 'Honorable Mention', placing in the top 30% out of over 21000 teams. Code at github.com/ojaroker/MCM2025; Report at oscar.jaroker.com/assets/pdf/MCMReport.pdf

Edwin Foster Kingsbury Prize

Colgate University, Dept of Physics

Award to students whose performance and promise is 'most outstanding'

Deans Award with Distinction

Colgate University

Award to students with a term GPA above 3.6

Kean University Hackathon

SetBreach, matching student’s survey responses to colleges using public datasets. Won Most Innovative Project award

President, Co-Founder

Engineering & Design Club

Founded and led a 40+ member engineering club, recruiting members and working with the Colgate Office of Student Involvement and Physics Department; secured $3,000 in project funding for the Spring 2026 semester

Regional Director

CS Base

Developed Curricula for Robotics, Python and Java Courses

• Recruited Instructors, Developed Course Schedules, Managed Student Registrations
• Software Programming Instructor

Koopman Analysis of Chua's Circuit

Final Project for Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos

• Built Chua's Circuit in lab and collected time-series data across four dynamical regimes: fixed point, limit cycle, period-doubled, and double scroll
• Applied Extended Dynamic Mode Decomposition (EDMD) to approximate the Koopman operator and extract dominant frequencies and geometric structure from each regime
• Characterized the chaotic double scroll attractor via Lyapunov exponent estimation, correlation dimension, and box-counting dimension

glmOJ: Count Regression R Package

Final Project for MATH 454 Statistical Learning

• Developed an R package providing a unified workflow for fitting, diagnosing, and interpreting count and semi-continuous regression models
• Supports Poisson, quasi-Poisson, negative binomial, Tweedie, and zero-inflated counterparts (ZIP, ZINB, ZI-Tweedie) with automatic model selection by AIC, BIC, log-likelihood, or McFadden pseudo-R²
• Package site at oscar.jaroker.com/glmOJ

Optimal Harvesting in Stochastic Predator-Prey Environment

Personal Project

• Applying stochastic control to find optimal harvesting in 2-species fishery following highly nonlinear dynamics
• Using MATLAB to implement numerical methods such as FB Sweep, Euler-Maruyama, Backward Euler

Spring System Simulation

Simulator and eigenmode calculator

• Personal project from Summer 2025
• Users can create a spring system by placing masses and springs, then visualize eigenmodes (frequencies where every mass exhibits purely harmonic motion)
• Project at oscar.jaroker.com/spring-system/

Data Analysis of "Allentown": Measuring Musical Influence

Final Project for Computational Statistics

• Conducted analysis of the song “Allentown”, a collaboration between 3 bands, answering the questions of which band(s) had the greatest influence on the lyrics and music in the song
• Utilized R to clean and summarize the data and perform various analyses, including t-tests and bootstrap analysis
• Communicated results clearly in a written report, including visualizations and explanations