My Story

I would like to use this space to introduce myself and briefly describe my career path and my story as to how I became a professor of mathematics.

I have always been enamored with mathematics and by its seemingly unbounded applications. When I was young, I became fascinated at how equations on a piece of paper could describe the reality around us. I decided around 10th grade in high school that I wanted to become a high school math teacher because I enjoyed helping others understand mathematical concepts. After I graduated high school in 2005, I went to Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania. I initially signed up as a secondary education in math, but decided in my first semester that I would prefer to teach at the college level. This meant that I no longer needed the secondary education and I then decided to dual major in mathematics and physics. 

Undergraduate college was a great time to explore not only my career aspirations, but also my personal interests. I joined the school’s dance ensemble, where I was introduced to east-coast swing, breakdance, line dance, and Irish hard-shoe. I also took up singing bass as part of the choir and performed at different schools. I also worked two on-campus jobs, one being at the front desk of the school library and the other being an official school tutor. It was through my tutoring experience that my desire to teach was enhanced.

After I graduated from Bloomsburg, I got accepted to the doctoral program in mathematics at North Carolina State University. As a graduate student, I had the opportunity to teach as the sole instructor for seven undergraduate courses, including a senior-level course called abstract algebra. It was during these years I began developing my teaching philosophy (and also met my future wife, Erika!). In 2014, I accepted my first professorship at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, and Erika came with me. Below are my wife Erika and I visiting the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg (left) and me shaking hands with my Ph.D. advisor, Bojko Bakalov, from North Carolina State University (right).

During my time at Spring Hill College, I was introduced to the concept of standards-based grading, which I describe in detail in the "Academic Standards" section of this website. After several semesters of using it for my upper-level courses, I found it to be a much better way to use grading as motivation for students to become better by addressing their mistakes, and thereby learn more. I went to a MAA MathFest session on alternative grading in 2018, and there were several faculty giving enthusiastic talks about their success using alternative grading in their elementary statistics courses. It was because of these talks I decided to use standards-based grading in all of my courses. 

During our time in Mobile, Erika and I got married in October 2016 (we drove to Pensacola to get married), and the year after that I left Spring Hill to join the mathematics department at Florida Southern College in Lakeland, FL. I changed locations so that I could be more involved with students outside of the classroom and to have more support for research opportunities. Unfortunately, there were virtually no students working on research projects during my time at Spring Hill other than their required senior capstone project. 

It was certainly the case that there were many research projects happening at Florida Southern. I have had the opportunity to meet and mentor several truly excellent students that have resulted in various research projects and/or publication in an undergraduate journal. I describe more details on these projects in the section "Collaborative Work with Students". Among these students are Zachary Fralish, Bernie Tyson III, Anthony Stefan, Risley Mable, Riley Peters, Lucas Clemens, and Nathan Hallmark. Unfortunately, however, I was the only faculty in the math department engaging in research projects with students. 

Other than research projects, I also made opportunities to teach several special topics courses with the aim to include mathematical topics that were not taught in the Florida Southern math curriculum. These topics include real analysis, abstract algebra, and number theory. The courses I developed are cryptology and its history (Caesar cipher to RSA encryption which included an introduction to modular arithmetic), geometry and its history (Euclid's Elements and introduction to finite, elliptic, and hyperbolic geometries), and math behind finance (introduction to stock and bond markets, options and the Black-Scholes option pricing model). I co-taught math behind finance with the finance faculty at Florida Southern, James Farrell. 

Outside of teaching, some of my personal interests include outside activities like bowling and disc golf. Ever since high school I have enjoyed playing Dance Dance Revolution (on heavy or challenge mode) and other video games (The Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, and Mega Man are among my favorite series). I have also learned tp play both accoustic and electric guitar. My cousins Adam and Evan Lagreca already knew how to play, so I was able to learn guitar from them. We have a cat named Brando. Below was me with my bowling team before COVID (left) and me playing a cover with two of my cousins (right).

The following sections of this website, which contain supporting documents and data analyses, reflect my passion for fostering student-centered teaching and engagement in meaningful research. While I am committed to excellence, I also never shy away from asking others for help, advice, or opinions; I owe much of my success to those conversations and the feedback I received from others. Thank you for your time and consideration.