About Me...

I am a third year graduate student in the Mathematics Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. My areas of interest include algebraic combinatorics. My hobbies include bowling, knitting, kayaking, cross country skiing, playing board games, and surviving the Wisconsin winter. I am currently a teaching assistant for Math 217: Calculus with Algebra and Trigonometry II. I received my undergraduate degree in May 2007 from the University of Evansville, Evansville, IN. My degree is a Bachelor of Science in Pre-doctoral Mathematics and Physics. During the summer of 2006, I participated in at REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) at the University of Akron, Akron, OH. I and three other students investigated the normal subgroups of wreath product finite p-groups (specifically p=5) under the advisement of Dr. Jeffrey Riedl. During our summer, we were able to determine the number and form of normal subgroups for p=5. The results were presented at the 2007 Joint Mathematics Meeting and also at Rose-Hulman's Undergraduate Research Conference in March 2007. During the fall of 2006, I worked with Dr. Robert F. Morse of the University of Evansville on a project concerning the non-abelian tensor squares of free nilpotent groups of low rank and class. This work goes along with some of Dr. Morse's current research. This work was presented at the Argonne Undergraduate Research Symposium. During the summer of 2007, I was lucky enough to get to participate in the IMMERSE program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I spent the summer in Lincoln taking an algebra and an analysis class, as well as taking part in various activities. I spent the summer of 2008 trying to pass my quals. :) During the summer of 2009, I got involved with the PEOPLE program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The mission of PEOPLE is to help students successfully make each transition from middle school to high school and from high school to college. I taught a Math I class in which we reviewed and tried to motivate material the students had seen the year before while trying to prepare them for the math class ahead. This involved a lot of projects/applications, worksheets, and traditional teaching. The students were freshmen and sophomores are local high schools.