About

My Background

I was born and raised in Rock Springs, Wyoming, a town of about ~22,000 people (5th largest town in the state!). In high school, I competed in policy debate and international extemporaneous speaking, and hoped to major in human rights and economics in undergrad. Almost immediately, I was sidetracked after taking the honors freshman math sequence at Columbia and switched my major to mathematics. I haven’t looked back since! (Except for a brief stint studying for the LSAT in my senior fall semester…) Even though I am now academically focused on math, I retain a deep conviction that the pursuit of mathematics cannot, and should not, be divorced from the material world – it is, after all, an incredibly human pursuit, and one which retains its meaning and importance because it is pursued by humans.

As a rural student, I am deeply invested in issues that pertain to the accessibility of higher education to all students, especially across income levels. The lack of knowledge we have about academia and what academic research even looks like can persist far throughout university, creating huge academic gaps between us and our peers. At the same time, we are also always capable of catching up and exceeding our peers given our unique perspectives, voices, and backgrounds.

I have been involved with the Rural Recruitment Committee at Columbia, helping with outreach efforts for admitted and interested students across the country, and am hoping to continue that outreach work in my time at UMN. As such, if you happen to be a rural student who has stumbled on this page, please feel free to reach out to ask any questions you might have about mathematics, my upbringing, and really anything at all!