Marisa Gaetz


I'm a fourth year math graduate student at MIT, advised by David Vogan. Within math, I'm particularly interested in representation theory and Lie theory. I'm honored to be a Hertz Fellow as well as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow. In addition to math, I'm very passionate about education, particularly for incarcerated individuals and underrepresented groups. I'm also play drums in the Boston-based funk-rock jam band, Tailwind.

You can find my CV here.

Research

Here are my publications and preprints in reverse chronological order.

Dual pairs in complex reductive groups.
Preprint. arXiv
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Anti-power j-fixes of the Thue-Morse word.
Discrete Math. Theor. Comput. Sci. 23 (2021) 1. arXiv
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Enumeration and extensions of word-representants. (with C. Ji)
Discrete Appl. Math. 284 (2020), 423-433. arXiv
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Quantifying CDS sortability of permutations by strategic pile size. (with B. Flanagan, M. Scheepers, and M. Shanks)
Discrete Math. Algorithms Appl. 12 (2020) 1. arXiv
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Support equalities among ribbon Schur functions. (with W. Hardt and S. Sridhar)
Electron. J. Combin. 26 (2019) 3, P3.52. arXiv
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A q-player impartial avoidance game for generating finite groups. (with B. Benesh)
Internat. J. Game Theory, 47 (2018) 2, 451-461. arXiv
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Math Programs & Involvement

PRIMES Circle

Since 2018, I have been involved with the MIT Math Department's Menezes Challenge PRIMES Circle program, first as a mentor and now as a coordinator. PRIMES Circle is a free math enrichment program for local high school students who are from backgrounds that are underrepresented in mathematics. Students are matched with an MIT undergraduate mentor, and together they engage in the mathematical process by learning, speaking, and writing about a math topic that is not typically covered in high school.

If you or someone you know seems like a good candidate for PRIMES Circle, please see here for more information.

Diversity and Community Building Committee

Since its inception in 2018, I have been a member of the MIT Math Department's Diversity and Community Building Committee, a team of faculty, staff, graduate students, and undergraduates dedicated to making the Math Department more welcoming, inclusive, and engaging.

Prison Education

Since its inception in 2017, I have been working with The Educational Justice Institute (TEJI), an MIT-based organization working to create sustainable solutions to mass incarceration, social injustice, and barriers to reentry via education and technology.

Philosophical Life Skills Program

Through TEJI, I have been a teaching assistant and discussion facilitator for several philosopy courses with "mixed classrooms" (meaning some of the students are incarcerated and others are Harvard/MIT students). In particular, I have helped teach Nonviolence as a Way of Life and Philosophy of Love, both of which are parts of Dr. Lee Perlman's "Philosophical Life Skills" program. This Nonviolence as a Way of Life course is featured in the New England Emmy Award-winning documentary below, in which I make an appearance!

Brave Behind Bars

In 2021, I helped start TEJI's Computer Education Committee, a team of MIT graduate students and instructors dedicated to providing quality digitial literacy and computer science education to incarcerated people. With Martin Nisser (a member of this group), I co-launched Brave Behind Bars (BBB), an introductory computer education and career-readiness program for incarcerated women.

Taught both online and in-person, the Summer '21 BBB pilot cohort brought together 25 women from four correctional facilities across New England. In Summer '22, we expanded our program to include 40 men and women from six correctional facilities, and our 2023 program has grown to support 55 incarcerated men and women from across the eastern United States. Together, our students develop skills in digital literacy, web design, and career-readiness, building websites to help address some of society's most pressing issues. Our work with the DC Jail during the Summer '22 cohort was featured in the Washington Post, and our Summer '23 cohort was featured by NBC.

Videos

Program prepares inmates for life after prison with coding, an NBC segment about Brave Behind Bars.

Redemption: MIT’s Prison Education Program, a mini-documentary by WGBH.

MLK Leadership Award Winner Marisa Gaetz, a video about my involvement with TEJI.

Brave Behind Bars - Summer 2021 Presentations, some highlights from BBB's pilot cohort.

Web Development

I love making websites! I have experience building websites from scratch, from Bootstrap templates, and using Squarespace. Below are some samples of websites I have worked on. Feel free to email me if you are interested in having me build a website for you or your organization.