Biography

I was born and raised in Lake City, Minnesota, a small town located on the banks of the Mississippi River and known for its scenic beauty. After high school, I attended Gustavus Adolphus College, a small liberal arts college located in Minnesota, where I earned a B.A. in Mathematics. The liberal arts education I received at Gustavus equipped me with a wonderful set of skills that prepared me for a lifetime of learning. After graduating from Gustavus, I attended Dartmouth College where I earned my M.A. and Ph.D. in mathematics. My years at Dartmouth were a wonderful experience, and in my time at Dartmouth I met many talented professors and students, several of whom became lifelong friends. I am grateful I had the opportunity to attend Dartmouth and benefit from its stimulating academic environment as well as the many opportunities it provided. After earning my Ph.D., I was fortunate enough to be awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the National Science Foundation, which I used to spend three years as a postdoc at the University of Iowa. After Iowa, I spent one year on a visiting assistant professorship at the College of William & Mary, and the following year I started a tenure-track position as a mathematics professor at the University of Houston. I spent fourteen years at the University of Houston, earning tenure as well as promotions from Assistant Professor to Associate Professor, and ultimately from Associate Professor to Full Professor. In 2020, frustrated with numerous aspects of the mathematics department at the University of Houston, I left my academic position there and took a position as an Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. In this position I perform research and teach mathematics classes. I also write books in a freelance capacity.

I am a dedicated teacher. During my career I have spent over twenty years teaching college-level and graduate-level mathematics. I have supervised four Ph.D. students as well as dozens of Masters students and undergraduate research projects. I also created and ran an outreach program for six years that used volunteer effort from University of Houston mathematics students to provide tutoring and math circle activities for high school and middle school students from underserved schools in Houston. I am interested in several aspects of education, including curriculum development, creating and running programs for outreach, supervising undergraduate research, increasing participation by members of under-represented groups, and engaging students at all levels and from all backgrounds in mathemstics.

My teaching and outreach efforts have been recognized in several ways: In 2015, I was awarded the highest teaching award of the College of Natural Science and Mathematics at the University of Houston, followed by a University Teaching Excellence Award from the University of Houston in 2016. In 2018 the outreach program I created received two national awards, the Phi Beta Kappa Award for Engaging Broader Audiences and the American Mathematical Society's Award for Mathematics Programs that Make a Difference. In 2019 I was the recipient of the annual Teaching Award from the Texas Section of the Mathematical Association of America. In 2020, I was further recognized at the national level when I was honored with the Haimo Award, the highest teaching award given by the Mathematical Association of America.

In my current work I perform mathematics research, teach, and write a wide variety of materials (both mathematical and non-mathematical). In my mathematics writing I strive to make mathematics accessible to a wide variety of audiences, including mathematicians, students, and the general public.