Hello, my name is Johan Cristobal (he/him), a fifth-year graduate student in the Mathematics Department at University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), pursuing a doctorate degree in Mathematics! I am finishing my dissertation in Mathematics Education this May 2025! I advanced to Candidacy in Fall 2023! 🎉 I graduated from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in the chaotic year of 2020 with a Bachelor's of Science in Mathematics of Computation. I received my Master's of Science in Mathematics from UNL in December 2021! 🎉🎉🎉

A little autobiography: I was born near Manila, Philippines and grew up there until I was nine. My entire family relocated to the United States in 2007 and since then I have moved more times than I would've liked. I have lived in about 14 different places now, Lincoln being the 14th place. Though it's sad to move away from friends, I am lucky to have been able to experience different things. I learned that I'm not the best in the cold, so living in Nebraska has been an immense challenge, physically and mentally.

In math, I like differential equations and education. In my time in grad school, I've found that there's a non-empty intersection between differential equations and machine learning. Whenever I get around to research, that is where I'll be. Education has always been at the forefront of my motivation, and I would love to research the effects of virtual classrooms on the motivation of students and community building aspects that were natural to in-person teaching. You can read about how my teaching philosophy evolved.

In the arts, I like to create digital art through the Adobe Suite. I can decently use Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Premiere Pro. And I am also currently learning how to use Adobe Dreamweaver and Adobe Audition! I also like music, I dabble in a bit of basic compositions when I get the rare inspiration.

My main hobbies include playing video games, listening to music, making videos and art, cooking, and other creative things. I also dabble in casual writing essays and poetry, which you can check out in Writings. I also have a Youtube channel and below this page are some videos I made that I like a lot.

In other sciences, I like computer science, but I lean more on the theoretical side of things. But don't be fooled, I can proficiently code in C/C++, while being vaguely efficient in Python and LISP. I also like Physics, mainly the basic stuff because I spent a year facilitating discussions and sections for an introductory Physics class.

My main goal in life is to inspire people to do whatever brings them joy and fulfillment, and I think being a mathematics instructor will help me do just that.

I'd like to take this section to provide quotes I heard in my life that I really like:
"Kung masaya ka, masaya rin ako. Wala akong paki-alam kung ano ang ginagawa mo sa college, just enjoy life. " my dad, Roberto

"We've always been able to do more with less, so you can do this." my sister, Meziah

"Dude, stop trying to be such a perfectionist. It's the imperfections that make it perfect." my friend, Andgielika

"One step at a time." my friend, Andgielika

"Fail Forward Fast." one of my instructors at UCLA, Sassone

"It took one person to believe in me, to tell me I could do this for me to do this." my favorite professor from UCLA, De Santiago

"You're already doing what you set out to do." a lot of people

"I'm so proud of you." a lot of people, my past selves in letters