Princeton shield Princeton University · Class of '29
Avid researcher

mathematician, Lillian
Wang.

~/

Sophomore at Princeton studying mathematics — interested in computational neuroscience and optimization. Aiming for a PhD in applied math.

I’m a research assistant at the ZERO Lab at Princeton HMEI under Jesse Jenkins, continuing my summer 2026 research on Benders decomposition and modeling to generate alternatives for energy systems optimization.

When I'm not doing math, I'm probably catching up on the latest AI news, watching Law & Order, or casually playing piano.

Pokémon GO · Lv 80 casual birder 2263-day Duolingo streak Ravenclaw Law & Order
GitHub Art lw3319@princeton.edu
Applied Math Computational Neuroscience Optimization PythonJuliaJava PyTorchTensorFlow / Kerasscikit-learn Interpretable Machine LearningStatistical Modeling Scientific ComputingLaTeX
7
Projects built
Selected past work
2
Published papers
2024
2
Hackathon wins
2 for 2
2263
Duolingo streak
days · and counting 🔥
80
Pokémon GO level
Team Valor
Ravenclaw crest
Ravenclaw
Hogwarts house
Lillian Wang
Lillian Wang
Princeton '29 · Math · ZERO Lab
GitHub Email
Scroll to explore
↓
Work — 01
Work — 01

Things I've built

A selection of apps and open-source tools I built to explore ideas and solve problems I encountered.

Spark
🏆 Best Education · HackPrinceton Spring '26🥽 Won Meta GlassesCuriosity engine for learning
01 / Featured · 🏆 Hackathon Winner
SparkEdTech

A curiosity engine for learning — built at HackPrinceton Spring 2026. 🏆 Best Education, the track for making learning more interactive, accessible, and personalized. Won Meta Glasses. Spark reimagines how you explore knowledge: FreeFall mode for rapid topic sampling, AI-generated explainers and quizzes, and a care/tend/master workflow that actually builds retention. Visual knowledge tree, streak tracking, collaborative groups, and opportunity recommendations matched to what you're learning.

ReactViteTailwind CSSFramer MotionClaude AIFirebase
↗ Launch App Source
AlphaMove
🏆 2nd Place · Consumer TrackBuilt in 8 hours$1,000 · Co-sponsored by Anthropic
02 · 🏆 Hackathon Winner
AlphaMoveAI Finance

Chess meets Duolingo for investing — an AI-mentored paper trading simulator built in 8 hours at Princeton's AI × Finance Hackathon. 🏆 2nd Place, Consumer Application Track · $1,000 prize · co-sponsored by Anthropic. Before every trade, your AI mentor pressure-tests your reasoning via Socratic questioning. After every trade, you get a chess-style move rating — brilliant, great, good, inaccuracy, mistake, blunder — based on how well you thought, not just whether the stock went up. Multi-asset trading, AI morning brief, 10-level mentor system, XP/streak gamification.

React 19TypeScriptFirebaseFinnhub APIPuter.jsGitHub Pages
↗ Launch App Source
Axiom
Paste LaTeX → study-ready notesContext-aware AI tutorBuilt for MAT217
03
AxiomMath Tool

A math study environment built for active recall — because reading past theorems isn't the same as knowing them. Paste lecture notes or textbook LaTeX and Axiom structures them into collapsible definitions, theorems, lemmas, and proofs. A context-aware AI tutor is one click away. KaTeX rendering, Firebase sync, study streak tracking.

KaTeXFirebasePuter.jsGitHub Pages
↗ Launch App Source
中文-Learn
100+ decks · 6 courses238 commits and countingBuilt for CHI 108
04
中文-LearnStudy App

A Chinese vocabulary PWA originally built for Princeton's CHI 108, with 100+ built-in decks across CHI 101, 102, 103, 105, 107, and 108. Includes SM-2 spaced repetition, animated stroke-order handwriting, AI grading, and six study modes. 238 commits and counting.

ReactFirebaseHanzi WriterSM-2
↗ Launch Source
TigerCalendar
Built for Princeton studentsDrag-to-create eventsICS export · syncs across devices
05
TigerCalendarPWA

A Princeton-specific calendar PWA that turns your course schedule into something actually usable. Drag-to-create events, office hours tracking, ICS export, swipe navigation, Firebase sync. Designed around how Princeton students actually plan.

ReactFirebaseGitHub Pages
↗ Launch Source
PokéRace
Race bots through your own notes20 Pokémon with unique passivesEntire game in one HTML file
06
PokéRaceGame

A Pokémon typing race game that turns your study material into a speed challenge. Race bots, level up 20 Pokémon with unique passives, earn XP from lecture notes. Full combo system, Nitro Boost mechanics, 60fps canvas trail renderer — one HTML file.

ReactCanvas APIWeb Audio APIlocalStorage
↗ Launch Source
Hopemaxx
Quest-based charitable givingAI proof verificationVibeathon 2026 · Social Systems
07
HopemaxxCivic Tech

A quest-based charitable giving platform where donors post funded tasks and community members complete them with BeReal-style photo proof. Claude AI verifies submissions and releases escrow-locked bounties. Dual reputation systems for doers and donors, an Aura Score for community engagement, and a closed-loop economy that nudges earners to fund future quests.

React 18ViteTailwind CSSFramer MotionLeaflet.jsClaude APIlocalStorage
↗ Launch Source
Background — 02
Background — 02

How I got here

From competition math and summer programs to Princeton, applied research, and beyond.

2026–Present
ZERO Lab — Princeton HMEI
Research Intern → Research Assistant · Energy Systems Optimization
Researching Benders decomposition and modeling to generate alternatives for energy systems optimization in Jesse Jenkins' group at Princeton's High Meadows Environmental Institute. Continuing as an academic-year research assistant after a summer 2026 internship.
JuliaOptimizationEnergy SystemsHMEI
Apr 2026
HackPrinceton Spring 2026 — Spark
🏆 Best Education · Won Meta Glasses

Built Spark at HackPrinceton Spring 2026 — a curiosity-first learning platform with AI-generated explainers, FreeFall topic discovery, and a care/tend/master retention workflow. Won Best Education, the track for making learning more interactive, accessible, and personalized. Won Meta Glasses as a prize.

ReactClaude AIBest EducationMeta Glasses Prize
Mar 2026
AI × Finance Hackathon — AlphaMove
🏆 2nd Place · Consumer Application Track · $1,000 Prize

Built AlphaMove in 8 hours at Princeton's AI × Finance Hackathon (co-sponsored by Anthropic). An AI-mentored paper trading simulator that rates your trades like chess moves — brilliant to blunder — based on reasoning quality, not just stock direction.

React 19TypeScriptAnthropicFinnhub API$1,000 Prize
Feb 2026
Princeton Research Day
Nominated Presenter · Computational Social Science
Presented original research applying René Girard's theory of triangular desire to user-generated discourse on AI companion platforms. Identified three discourse clusters using seeded LDA, VADER, NRC, and eMFD analysis.
NLPSeeded LDAVADERGirard Theory
Jan 2026
JMM 2026 Poster
Joint Mathematics Meetings · Poster Presenter
Presented original research on Smith Normal Form of matrix powers at the 2026 Joint Mathematics Meetings — work done through the PROMYS Research Lab.
Linear AlgebraSmith Normal FormNumber Theory
2025–2029
Princeton University
B.A. Mathematics · Class of 2029
Studying mathematics with a focus on applied and computational directions, with intended minors in Neuroscience and OQDS. Current courses: MAT 345 (Algebra I), ORF 307 (Optimization), COS 226 (Algorithms & Data Structures), SPI 365 (Tech/Ethics), and PHI 201 (Introductory Logic). Mathey College. Aiming for a PhD in applied mathematics.
Applied MathMathey College
2024
Modeling the Future Challenge
2nd Place · National Competition
Second-place finish in this national actuarial modeling competition. Built predictive models under real-world constraints and presented findings to a panel of industry judges.
ML ModelingActuarialData Science
2024–2025
PROMYS at Boston University
Participant (×2) · Research Lab
Attended the Program in Mathematics for Young Scientists twice — the second time as a returning student in the Research Lab, where I conducted original work on Smith Normal Form of matrix powers.
Number TheoryResearchBoston University
Research — 03
Research — 03

What I'm studying

Selected work in computational biology and computational social science, alongside a course project in molecular dynamics.

Princeton Research Day 2026 Nominated Presenter · Computational Social Science
Triangular Desire in the Age of Algorithmic Companions:
How Users Narrate Relationships with AI on Reddit

Applied René Girard's theory of triangular (mimetic) desire to user-generated discourse on AI companion platforms — specifically r/Replika and r/CharacterAI. Used computational text analysis to map how users construct, narrate, and justify their emotional relationships with AI systems, and whether those relationships follow recognizable patterns of mediated desire.

Seeded LDAVADER Sentiment AnalysisNRC Emotion LexiconExtended MFDDiscourse ClusteringReddit API

Identified three distinct discourse clusters — "Lobotomized Love," "Violation of Sanctuary," and "Consumer Revolt" — mapping onto distinct modes of Girardian mediation.

Venue
Princeton
Research Day
2026 · Nominated Presenter
Field
Comp. Social Science
NLP · Discourse Analysis
Theory
Girardian
Mediation
Triangular desire applied to AI platforms
Finding
3 clusters
Distinct modes of AI relationship narration
Research Project · Dec 2025–Feb 2026 Princeton University · Computer Science & Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics

Interpretable Deep Learning for DNA Motif Discovery

Adapted L2X (Learning to Explain) to simulated DNA sequences, building a fully convolutional selector that preserves a base-by-base map of feature importance. Implemented a custom Gumbel–Softmax sampling layer and a CNN training pipeline, then evaluated motif recovery and whether selected bases reproduce model predictions.

TensorFlow / KerasPyTorchL2XGumbel–SoftmaxModel Interpretability
Course Project · Spring 2026 Princeton University · FRS 156

Molecular Dynamics of Amyloid-β

Co-authored a course study comparing single-peptide conformations in water and glucose solution. Used molecular dynamics simulations with LAMMPS and the CHARMM36m force field, analyzing radius of gyration and residue contacts across simulation replicates.

LAMMPSCHARMM36mMolecular DynamicsRadius of GyrationResidue Contacts
Publications

Published work

First-Author Paper · 2024 Journal of High School Science · Northern Illinois University

Using Machine Learning to Identify Risk Factors for Youth Suicide Attempts

Compared LightGBM, random forest, and logistic regression on 17,232 CDC survey records to study factors associated with youth suicide attempts. Used stratified three-fold cross-validation and feature-importance analysis to evaluate the models and examine patterns in the survey data.

LightGBMRandom ForestLogistic RegressionCross-Validation
First-Author Paper · 2024 Actuarial Research Clearing House · Modeling the Future Challenge

Risk Analysis of the Causes of Food Deserts

Combined USDA, Census, and NOAA data to investigate persistent drivers of food-access risk. Used ridge regression, Monte Carlo simulation, and longitudinal analysis to examine risk under uncertainty. The team earned second place nationally in the Modeling the Future Challenge.

Ridge RegressionMonte Carlo SimulationLongitudinal AnalysisRisk Modeling
Now — 04
Now — 04

What's on my mind

🏆
Past Project
Spark · Best Education

Built at HackPrinceton Spring 2026. Won Best Education — the track for making learning more interactive, accessible, and personalized. Also won Meta Glasses as a prize.

📚
Studying
Fall Semester

Studying algebra, optimization, algorithms, tech ethics, and logic.

⚡
Researching
ZERO Lab · Princeton HMEI

Continuing my summer research on Benders decomposition and modeling to generate alternatives for energy systems optimization as an academic-year research assistant under Jesse Jenkins.

∑
Interests
Computational Neuroscience & Optimization

Exploring computational neuroscience and optimization with the goal of pursuing a PhD in applied mathematics.

Want to work together?

Let's connect.

Say hello GitHub →
Currently: Mathematics · Computational Neuroscience · Optimization