Hi! I’m Sheila Prakash (Sheesh). I went to Carnegie Mellon University and teach math in New York City. I’ve written for The New York Times and been rejected 132 times (and counting) by The New Yorker.

I want everyone to belong to math — especially people who hate it. So I write funny words-only questions anyone can answer and put them on water fountains around the city!

I’m interested in prebiotic chemistry and ocean worlds and completed NASA’s Astrobiology Summer School in 2008. I also love dinosaurs and audited Dr. Paul Olsen’s legendary Dinosaurs and the History of Life course at Columbia University in 2024.

My favorite mathematician is Bernhard Riemann and my favorite art critic is Roberta Smith.

I’m proud to sit on the board of the Ali Forney Center, the largest LGBTQ+ youth homeless shelter in the country.

If you’d like to say hi, contact me at sheilap@alumni.cmu.edu! For a math compliment, go here!