I am a Research Scientist in the Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at the University of Florida, USA. My research focuses on categorical and sheaf-theoretic methods for compositional modeling, with applications to chemistry, control theory and dynamical systems.
Before this position, I was a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Florida, USA. Before moving to the USA, I was a PhD student at the Bioinformatics Group, University of Leipzig, and at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences, Germany. My advisors were Peter F. Stadler & Juergen Jost.
My main fields of interest are:
- Category theory and sheaf theory in dynamical systems and control theory
- Compositional and categorical models in chemistry
- Mathematics of data and time-varying systems
- Hypernetwork science
- Formal and computational history of chemistry
What is new?
- January 2026 – Started my position as a Research Scientist in the Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, working at the interface of category theory, dynamical systems, and control.
- October 2025 – Gave a talk titled “Computing fixed points of CTLNs with separated presheaves, sheaves and dynamic programming” at the 2025 Category Theory Octoberfest (online).
- August 2025 – Our article “Diachronic data analysis supports and refines conceptual metaphor theory” just appeared in PLOS Complex Systems! 🎉
- March 2025 – Our paper “Dialectica Petri nets”, co-authored with Elena Di Lavore and Valeria de Paiva, was accepted for publication in Fundamenta Informaticae. Working with Valeria’s Dialectica categories to build linear logic models of Petri nets. I learned so much category theory from them through this collaboration!
- July 2024 – Co-organized a mini-course and special session on Applied Category Theory at the Colombian Congress of Applied and Industrial Mathematics (MAPI III). Energizing experience with local and international participants.
- July 2024 – Shared our work on “Towards a Unified Theory of Time-Varying Data” at ACT 2024 at Oxford. Great conversations around categorical approaches to temporal data.
- May 2024 – Submitted two grant proposals to the NSF and USDA focused on open-source tools for chemical process design and sustainable biorefineries. Fingers crossed.
- January 2023 – Started a postdoctoral position at the University of Florida, working at the intersection of computer science, chemical engineering, and category theory.
- December 2022 – Completed my PhD in Computer Science at Leipzig University and MPI MiS with the highest honors (summa cum laude).
- June 2022 – Participated in the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting (Chemistry), nominated by the Max Planck Society.
- May 2022 – Our paper The expansion of chemical space in 1826 and in the 1840s prompted the convergence to the periodic system was published in PNAS.
- May 2022 – Featured in a Max Planck Institute press release celebrating my thesis defense.
- 2021 – Presented at the Max Planck Scientific Advisory Board meeting as part of the institute’s internal evaluation.
- Summer 2020 – Participated in the Applied Category Theory Adjoint School hosted by MIT. I had the chance to collaborate with Elena Di Lavore and was mentored by Valeria de Paiva throughout the program.
- April 2019 – Our paper Formal structure of periodic system of elements was featured on the cover of Proceedings of the Royal Society A.
- June 2019 – Research featured by multiple outlets including Chemical & Engineering News, Der Standard, Springer Professional, and the Max Planck Society. 🌍
Contact
Email: wleal at ufl.edu
Department of Computer & Information Science & Engineering
University of Florida
432 Newell Dr
Gainesville, FL 32611
USA