John McAlister is an incoming postdoctoral research associate in the Program in Applied and Computational Mathematics whose research focuses on game theoretic modeling with explicit spatial or relational structure. He earned a BS in Zoology and a BS in Mathematics at The Ohio State University then went on to the University of Tennessee - Knoxville to pursue a PhD in Mathematics focusing on mathematical ecology. There, under the direction of Dr. Nina Fefferman and Dr. Tadele Mengesha, his dissertation focused on understanding how the structure of a population can suppress or promote non-consensus equilibria in coordination games. As he continues his research, he uses tools from differential and nonlocal equations to develop new models of collective behavior that account for the relational structure of the population. Outside of his research, John enjoys running and powerlifting and he is a big fan of Ohio State Football.