Contact: nickcookXmathYdukeYedu (with obvious substitutions)

Picture of me

I'm an assistant professor in the mathematics department at Duke University.

Interests:

High-dimensional probability: random matrices, random graphs, large deviations, concentration and anti-concentration of measure, universality phenomena.

Related topics in graph theory, additive combinatorics, free probability, mathematical physics, numerical analysis and statistics.

Current teaching (Fall 2025):
Background:
Previously I was a Stein Fellow in the statistics department at Stanford University, and an NSF postdoc in the math departments at Stanford and UCLA, sponsored by Amir Dembo and Jun Yin. In 2016 I received my PhD from UCLA under the advice of Terence Tao. Before that I was (and still am) a Tar Heel and a Unicorn.