About Me

I grew up in a small town in the great state of New Jersey, where I ate a lot of pork roll (and no Taylor ham). I then went to the University of Michigan for my BS in Honors Mathematics, and stuck around for my MS too. While there, I took the honors math sequence (class number 41), where I made some of my best friends at the expense of most of my sleep and some of my sanity. At the expense of more of those two things, I spent two years with the University of Michigan Solar Car Team, and was Operations Director for a little more than half that time. As a part of the team, I raced 1800 miles across America in a really big truck.

After my time at Michigan I spent a year in Arlington, Virginia as a Quantitative Trader in the energy markets. I then hitched a ride back to the Midwest to start my PhD at the University of Illinois, Chicago, where I am now. 

Academic Interests

I love to study algebraic problems with geometric flair. If you're working on a geometry problem where you notice a lot of symmetries and relations that can be described algebraically, I probably want to hear about it. 

I'm also (broadly) interested in commutative algebra problems in mixed and positive characteristic. I'm particularly interested in those that require algebraic methods, but have geometric applications.

I've been programming for the better part of a decade (C++, Python, R, MySQL, PHP, Java, etc.) and have a dozen pet projects that I've never quite finished. If you know of a more interesting project let me know.

Other Interests

I love playing board games and am always looking for a group. The list of games I play regularly is ever growing, but includes Terra Mystica, Terraforming Mars, 7 Wonders, Twilight Imperium, Eastern Empires, and Chess. It is worth noting that I'm not particularly good at any of these.

I like to talk about meal replacements more than I should, and am very opinionated. If you see me in person, feel free to ask me to compare and contrast v2.1 and v2.0 of Soylent.

I'm a big fan of having a scheduled capsule wardrobe. If I only see you 1 day of the week and it looks like I always wear the same outfit, it's because I am.