About the Instructor

Nate Dowlin received his BS in mathematics from Yale in 2011 and his PhD in mathematics from Princeton in 2016. He went on to be an NSF post-doc at Columbia and Dartmouth, and a Ritt Assistant Professor at Columbia. He also spent one year as a visiting lecturer at Stanford.

Nate received some of the highest teaching evaluations at each of these universities, and received the following awards for teaching and research:

Junior Faculty Teaching Award from Columbia University
Mathematical Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from the NSF
Graduate Teaching Award from Princeton University
Anthony D Stanley Memorial Prize from Yale

Most of Nate’s research has been in knot theory and differential topology, but he has also dabbled in machine learning, cryptography, and astrophysics. His most significant research contributions are the construction of a spectral sequence from Khovanov homology to knot Floer homology, proving a 15 year old conjecture in knot theory, and applying neural networks to encrypted data, paving the way for AI to preserve individual privacy.

Google Scholar

Course Reviews

Term	University	Course	Class Size	Avg Review	Link to Reviews
Fall 2019	Columbia	Calculus II	150	4.6	Reviews
Winter 2019	Dartmouth	Calculus I	34	4.56	Reviews
Summer 2018	Dartmouth	Topology	10	5.0	Reviews
Fall 2017	Columbia	Linear Algebra	91	4.73	Reviews
Spring 2014	Princeton	Linear Algebra	16	4.71	Reviews

Student Reviews

“Professor Dowlin is an incredible professor! He's clear, always asks for questions, writes and speaks at the perfect pace, and goes methodically through the material. He's brilliant and yet can explain the material in a way anyone can understand. He teaches for students. He is also very approachable, which makes asking questions easy. Also, we all love his riddles! I would take any class he teaches.”
– Columbia student
“If Nathan Dowlin is teaching this class, then TAKE IT! Best professor I ever had.”
– Stanford student
“Nate is possibly the best math teacher I’ve ever had. He’s easy to understand, cares so much about our learning, and teaches us a new appreciation for math.”
– Princeton student
“He’s absolutely the best math professor/teacher I’v ever had, makes the course interesting, even though Calc 2 can be really boring, always gives us riddles before or after class to get us thinking, is always able to explain something a different way if someone doesn’t understand it the first time, and he’s at the actual nicest human being on the planet. Sometimes math professors get so caught up in their own heads that they can’t figure out a way to explain the material to someone who [isn’t a math major / doesn’t think like a math professor / just doesn’t understand the first time around], but this is absolutely NOT the case for professor Dowlin. I could not give enough positive feedback for this guy!”
– Columbia student
“I don't enjoy math as a subject but I felt very lucky to have Professor Dowlin as my teacher. He is great at explaining concepts and simplifying things that seem scary. Something that stood out to me was how he addressed us when we were really confused. I remember after the introduction to a tough topic he saw us all blank-faced and said ‘It's okay if you don't understand all of this, it's a tough one to grasp so don't worry’ and it made me feel much more secure in the course because it was clear he was empathetic towards his students and wanted us to succeed without being intimidated by math. Thanks for everything Professor Dowlin! I wish you luck in the future on your next endeavor beyond Dartmouth.”
– Dartmouth student