I was born at a very early age in Saginaw, Michigan, and lived there until I graduated from Heritage High School in 1996. Since January 2008, I have been an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. I married my wife Lisa in July of 2004, and she is currently a high-school mathematics teacher for Goochland High School, just to the west of Richmond.

Education

University of Kansas
Ph.D. in Mathematics, 2007. Advisor: William Paschke
M.A. in Mathematics, 2001

I applied to graduate school at the University of Kansas based upon a brochure I received from the Madison and Lila Self Graduate Fellowship. In 2000, they were still interested in pure mathematics students, and I was happy to find upon visiting for an interview that KU, the Math Department, and the city of Lawrence were all very appealing: unlike much of Kansas, Lawrence is a decently liberal sort of town, somewhat hilly, and only 45 minutes from Kansas City. My dissertation was in C*-algebras, although I took a number of extra courses in both commutative algebra and topology.

Central Michigan University
B.S. in Mathematics and English, 2000
B.M. in Music Theory/Composition, 2000

Awards

Fields Institute for Research in the Mathematical Sciences
Postdoctoral Fellow, 2007. Advisor: George Elliot
University of Kansas
Madison and Lila Self Graduate Fellow, 2000-2004
Black/Mitchell/Walker Summer Scholar, 2005 and 2006
John Bunce Memorial Award, 2005
Central Michigan University
Centralis Scholar, 1996-2000
Norman C. Dietz Award, 1999
Michigan Association of Governing Boards of State Universities Outstanding Student Award, 2000
Rictmeyer-Faust Award for Outstanding Senior in Mathematics, 2000