Hello! My name is Johan Cristobal (he/him), currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Data Science at Loyola Marymount University.
A little autobiography: I was born near Manila, Philippines and grew up there until I was nine years old. 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 15 different places now, Lincoln being the 14th place and now Inglewood being the 15th. It's been a tremendous blessing to have been able to live and experience different places and communities. My main hobbies include playing video games, listening to music, making videos and art, cooking, and other creative things. I dabble in casual essay writing, 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. 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.
Academic biography: I earned my PhD in Mathematics from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with my dissertation focused on Mathematics Education! I advanced to Candidacy in Fall 2023 and finished my PhD in Spring 2025! 🎉 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! 🎉🎉🎉 Now I'm a Visiting Assistant Professor at the Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Data Science at Loyola Marymount University.
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 partial differential equations and machine learning. Whenever I get around to researching PDEs again, that is where I'll be. Education has always been at the forefront of my motivation of getting a PhD, and now that I have one, I want to explore how I can use research to provide more equitable learning experiences for students taking their first or 50th mathematics class. To chart my teaching philosophy, you can read about how my teaching philosophy evolved when I was just starting to teach!
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 Audition for some music editing! I dabble in a bit of basic compositions when I get the rare inspiration. I play the cello and a little bit of the clarinet!
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