About

I am an assistant professor of mathematics at Gordon College, a private Christian college located on the North Shore of Boston. At Gordon, I have the privilege of teaching undergraduates with a variety of backgrounds and interests when it comes to mathematics. My students range from future elementary school teachers to physics and engineering majors to upper-level mathematics students. One of the great joys of my job at Gordon is the opportunity to know these students individually and to walk alongside them as they wrestle with questions about their identity, their future, and their faith.

I’ve been drawn to the study of mathematics for as long as I can remember, though the reasons why have shifted over the years. When I was in elementary school, I said that I wanted to someday get a Ph.D. in mathematics because I wanted to know everything there was to know about math. At the time, I viewed math as rules and procedures that would inevitably produce a single correct answer. It was a game that was fun because I was naturally good at it, and I wanted to master all of its rules.

Slowly, throughout years of undergraduate and graduate study, I have now come to see mathematics as the underlying patterns and structures that govern all aspects of creation. I believe it is the language with which God wrote the universe. My career is built upon a desire to pursue fluency in the language of mathematics and develop that fluency in others.

As mentioned above, I have always known that I wanted to study mathematics and I have never strayed from that path throughout my educational journey, though there were many moments when I was tempted to give up. I entered college as a mathematics major at Lee University in 2009, and I graduated with a B.S. in Mathematics in 2013. That fall, I entered a doctoral program at Baylor University, where I spent six years working towards my Ph.D. After graduating in 2019, I worked for two years as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Washington & Lee University before making my way to Gordon College in 2021.

During my time as an undergraduate, I became entranced with the way mathematics describes the natural world through physics. I was particularly fascinated by the wonders of quantum mechanics, though I lacked any formal training in that area. At Baylor, my research was geared towards mathematical problems that were motivated by physics. My dissertation studied the spectral properties of quantum graphs, which I explain in a bit more detail on my research interests page.

In addition to my mathematical physics research, I'm also passionate about mathematics education. I think mathematics is largely misunderstood by many people (it was by me!), and I hope to spread the joy of what mathematics is and can be wherever I go. On a tangible level, I am constantly tweaking my classes to find ways to cultivate that joy and confidence in my students. I am also pursuing a handful of outreach opportunities in the K-12 space.

Finally, I have some amount of personal interest in the intersection of mathematics, theology, and philosophy. I am involved in the Association of Christians in the Mathematical Sciences, and I enjoy participating in discussions about the nature of what mathematics is and how it relates to Christian faith.

The most important person in my life is my Lord Jesus, even if I often fail to act like it. I am an imperfect follower of Christ, and I believe that He is using me for His glory, despite my many weaknesses.

The second most important person in my life is my husband, Gareth. We got married in August 2020, right in the middle of the COVID pandemic, in a small, live-streamed ceremony. Less than a year later, I asked my midwestern man if he would be willing to move to New England, a part of the world neither of us had ever considered living in. He has been my biggest supporter and I'm incredibly grateful to have him in my life.

My husband and I live in Beverly, MA, and we regularly attend and are involved in Center Grace Church. We are both proud nerds and enjoy many aspects of nerdy culture together, including lots of computer games and board games. I have also played some tabletop RPGs, though it's been many years. We both liked Star Wars and Marvel when they were good, and we saw the re-release of the extended editions of Lord of the Rings together in theaters in Summer 2024. I'm a lover of Renaissance-era Disney, as well as all the Disney princesses. I'm also a big fan of Baylor football and try to catch as many games as I can, though that is getting harder since I moved to Massachusetts. I like most humans that I meet, so don't hesitate to introduce yourself if our paths should cross.