#SoCaltech: Bijan Mazaheri

Photo courtesy Pasadena Star-News.

“I’ve been running a little more than 10 years. I started my junior year of high school to stay in shape for swimming, but I turned out to be a much better runner than swimmer. I continued running on the cross country and teams at Williams and Cambridge and have been helping coach at Caltech. My running and my research work symbiotically—running allows me to take a step back from equations and think at a higher level. Sometimes I can get intuition and ideas from that change in environment. I've definitely, more than once, stopped to jot something down in the middle of a run. Usually, it's nonsense and doesn't work, but, every once in a while, it leads to a proof. It also gives some structure to my day, which I find helpful.” 

Bijan Mazaheri (wearing the yellow-green jersey), a fifth-year graduate student in computing and mathematical sciences, was the top American men’s finisher in the 36th annual Los Angeles Marathon on Sunday, November 7.

#SoCaltech is an occasional series celebrating the diverse individuals who give Caltech its spirit of excellence, ambition, and ingenuity. Know someone we should profile? Send nominations to magazine@caltech.edu.