My life story (abridged)
Except
for a brief excursion to California when I was a toddler, I lived
my entire life in Colorado until the summer of 2012. I was born and raised in Loveland,
Colorado, a sleepy town at the gateway to the Rocky Mountains. I
spent a lot of time playing in the backyard with my sister. In elementary school my favorite subject was creative writing and I wrote some pretty ridiculous stories over the
years. In the seventh grade I had an amazing teacher who inspired
me to become one myself. Mr B taught me that English grammar
isn’t boring when you sing, dance, and rhyme your way through it (I can
still recite my helping verbs an undisclosed number of years later).
In
high school, I took challenging classes and filled the rest of my time
with Knowledge Bowl, choir, clogging, and technical theatre. I
graduated in 2000 and went off to college at Adams State College (now Adams State University),
a small school in southern Colorado with a recognized education
program. I received a lot of personal encouragement and mentoring
from the math faculty there, including being chosen as the “Outstanding
Mathematics Student” in 2003. I graduated with a BA in Secondary
Mathematics Education in 2003 and returned to northern Colorado to look
for a job.
The next three years were spent teaching seventh through ninth grade math at Liberty Common School,
a Core Knowledge charter school in Fort Collins, Colorado. I had
more fun than expected working with those students, teaching
Pre-Algebra through Pre-Calculus and coaching a MathCounts team.
As much as I loved my students and curriculum, I missed working on
higher level mathematics. Graduate school was the next logical
step, with the goal of becoming a university professor and sharing my
love of mathematics with students not unlike myself.
I did my graduate work in mathematics at Colorado State University, working as a Graduate Teaching Assistant as well.
I work in arithmetic geometry, at the intersection of number theory and
algebraic geometry. I finished my Ph.D. project on conjugacy classes of
matrix groups and isogeny classes of abelian varieties in
Summer 2012 under the advisement of Jeff Achter. Check out my Math page for more details of my more recent work.
I
am
currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics at James
Madison University in the
Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. When I'm not teaching, I'm
checking out the nearby hills (which the locals keep calling mountains),
hanging out with my cat, knitting, reading, and skyping with my niece and nephews back in
Colorado.
Personal (Non-math, Non-teaching) Interests
When I’m not doing math or teaching, you can usually find me either sleeping or doing one of these things.
Photography
Whether
I’m hiking, wandering around a new city, or playing with my niece and
nephews, I probably have my camera with me. I find it gives me a
different perspective on what I’m seeing and allows me to express a
different part of my personality. To see more pictures, check out my
Photography page. All of the pictures on my website are my own.
Hiking & Snowshoeing, Camping & Skiing
Colorado
is an amazingly beautiful place to be, both in the summer and in the
winter. I enjoy taking a slow stroll through the trees,
picnicking by
a mountain lake, and listening to the roar of a waterfall. I
remember camping with my parents and my sister outside of Estes Park,
Colorado in the summers; my favorite part was roasting marshmallows
over the campfire and singing with my dad while we hiked. In the
winter, there’s a quiet in the snow-covered forest that is very
calming. I have been skiing for many years and enjoy
spending that time in the mountains on the snow, the wind in my face as
I speed down the mountain. While the skiing in Virginia leaves
something to be desired, I look forward to an opportunity to try out
skiing up in Vermont or New York! In many ways, hiking (in any
location) is just an excuse
for
me to play with my camera while getting some exercise! I am
exploring the hills around Harrisonburg, and am constantly
amazed by the number of trees blocking my view! The vistas aren't
as broad, but the colors are much more vibrant, which makes for just as
interesting pictures.
Reading
I
have been an avid reader as long as I can remember. I have
childhood memories of reading
in bed with a flashlight after I was supposed to be asleep, and it is
still one of my favorite pastimes. Now I curl up on my couch with
a
novel and my cat, Milo, asleep in my lap. I tend to read science
fiction and fantasy, but I love a good mystery or math history book too.
Knitting
I recently taught myself how to knit! It's very satisfying to spend
time working on a project and have a physical manifestation of that
time and energy at the end of it. I haven't gotten too crazy yet, but
I'm getting pretty good at hats, blankets, and fixing my mistakes.
Dancing & Live Music
In
high school, college, and while I taught junior high I danced in
various groups who all did loud types of dancing. Recreationally,
I like to dance salsa and swing (both West Coast and
country swing), especially to live music. I love checking out
local bands or seeing my favorite bands on a national tour.
Current (and perennial) faves include JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound,
the Hackensaw Boys, Mumford and Sons,
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Old Crow Medicine Show, and the
Barenaked Ladies.
Travel
Math
has taken me to some really amazing places, like Costa Rica, Banff, and France. I enjoy
taking road trips to see new parts of the US, and am looking forward to spending more time abroad. I am excited to
visit Spain, Italy, and London, and I would like to return to Costa
Rica and explore South America. With my camera, of course!