Alan Lu

I am currently a first-year student at Harvey Mudd College, majoring in Computer Science and Mathematics. I am  interested in pursuing computer science research in Harvey Mudd’s Music Information Retrieval Lab, where I aim to apply machine learning and signal processing techniques to understand musical data.

More broadly, I am considering career paths in artificial intelligence, software engineering, and quantitative finance, all of which align closely with my interests in mathematically driven problem solving and computation.

I studied at Random Math from 6th through 11th grade, where I developed both strong technical skills and a deep appreciation for collaborative problem solving. My competitive math experience includes qualifying for the USAMO, earning USAJMO Winner and Honorary Mention distinctions, qualifying for the AIME six times, receiving AMC 12 Distinguished Honor Roll recognition, and placing 10th in Geometry at both the Stanford Math Tournament and the Berkeley Math Tournament.

Beyond learning technical skills, Random Math also introduced me to many close friends and mentors. Bonding with peers in Random Math classes and competing together at contests such as BMT and SMT played a major role in shaping my passion for mathematics and STEM, and many of my favorite high school memories come from working through challenging problems as a team.

My time at Random Math significantly strengthened my problem-solving and critical-thinking abilities, which I continue to apply throughout my coursework, coding projects, and research.