Education
- B.S. in Mathematics, Grove City College
- B.A. in Economics, Grove City College
- M.S. in Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, Clemson University
- Ph.D. in Mathematics, Clemson University
What are the main focuses of your research?
My primary areas of research are commutative algebra and algebraic number theory. I have recently been interested in applications of these areas to quantum algorithms and postquantum cryptography.
Professional experience
I have served as a research mentor in the MIT PRIMES program. I have also taught mathematics and economics courses at the Greenville Detention Center in Greenville, SC.
What specific courses or specialties do you teach, and/or what has drawn you to those specialties?
My specialty is in algebra. Abstract and linear algebra are among my favorite courses, but I also enjoy teaching calculus in its many forms.
In your opinion, what is the most important piece of advice you give your students to help them succeed?
Goals can be useful and motivating, but if you are always looking forward, you will never be where you want to be. Doing things well for their own sake will not only keep you in the present, but it is also conducive to long-term success. In my courses, I always try to internally motivate the mathematics we study before giving external applications. By viewing mathematical objects as more than tools, we can understand them more deeply and, in turn, use them more effectively.
“For a carpenter and a geometer investigate the right angle in different ways; the former does so in so far as the right angle is useful for his work, while the latter inquires what it is or what sort of thing it is; for he is a spectator of the truth.” – Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics
Selected publications
- “Elasticity of Orders with Prime Conductor,” Journal of Number Theory (with G.Moles)
- "A Generalized Davenport Constant of the Second Kind,” AMS Proceedings of the Conference on The Ideal Theory and Arithmetic of Rings, Monoids, and Semigroups
- "Galois Action and Localization in Number Fields,” arXiv preprint arXiv:2510.10018 (with J. Coykendall)
Is there any additional personal experience you would like to share?
I served as president of the Grove City College Ballroom club from 2018 to 2021.