I am trained as a string theorist, but my research has also taken me into the subjects of algebraic geometry, quantum algebra, knot theory, combinatorics, and various facets of statistical physics. Therefore, I have come to consider myself more generally a mathematical physicist. My primary interest is directed towards the interface between mathematics and the relations between string theory and geometry or physics, as well as the connections between several string theory and aspects of statistical physics, such different subfields. Examples of such connections are as dimer models and integrable spin chains.