Pre-College
I grew up in the thumb area of Michigan. I went to Imlay City High School (ICHS – Go Spartans!). While in high school, I was part of our wind ensemble, marching band, cross country team, track team, and Quiz Bowl team for all four years. I led our percussion section for three years and led our drumline for two. I was a captain of the Quiz Bowl team for two years, leading us to a state-level and a national-level tournament during my junior year, and was a co-captain of both the cross country and track teams during my senior year. I was also a member of the National Honor Society (NHS) for two years, and I was the NHS Vice President during my senior year. I took five Advanced Placement (AP) classes during my junior and senior years (Chemistry, United States History; Calculus AB, English Literature, Environmental Science). I was a co-valedictorian of my graduating class.
Undergrad
I did my undergrad at Michigan State University (MSU – Go Green!). As a member of the Honors College, I received a B.S. in Astrophysics and Minors in Mathematics; Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering (CMSE); and Data Science. I spent several years conducting research with the IceCube Collaboration, with projects covering neural networks for event reconstruction and a statistical search for neutrinos from dark matter (DM) annihilation in dwarf galaxies. I was also an Undergraduate Learning Assistant (ULA) for three semesters in introductory astronomy courses. While at MSU, I was also a member of our Society of Physics Students (SPS) chapter and our Astronomy Club for all four years, and I was Vice President of the Astronomy Club during my senior year. I also served as a mentor to two first-year undergraduate students as part of the Stellar Mentorship program in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, providing advice on classes, navigating the astrophysics degree program, and life as an undergraduate student.
Grad School
I'm now a fourth-year graduate student at Georgia Institute of Techonology (Georgia Tech / GT – Go Jackets!). I'm working towards a Ph.D. in Physics with a Doctoral Minor in Higher Education. I completed my Ph.D. candidacy exam during my third year. I do research with Dr. John Wise on the formation of direct-collapse black holes (DCBH) in the early universe. I am developing support vector machines (SVMs), a kind of machine learning model, to predict whether or not a dark matter halo is expected to host a DCBH based on its properties. I've spent five semesters as a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) teaching introductory algebra-based mechanics to non-majors. For three of those semesters, I was the Head TA, meaning that I was in charge of the other GTAs and Undergraduate Teaching Assistants (UTAs) in the course and was responsible for managing the course's online discussion forum. I'm currently a GTA for an introductory astronomy class focused on the solar system. I'm also a member of the Tech to Teaching program, a teaching preparation certification program for graduate students and postdocs. As a graduate student in the School of Physics, I'm a member of our Graduate Association of Physicists (GAP), which organizes social activities for members and advocates to the School on behalf of the graduate students. I'm serving as a GAP Mentor to two first-year students, providing mentorship on navigating the Ph.D. program and life as a graduate student.
Personal Life
Outside of academic life, I enjoy reading (including The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, the Sigma Force series, and just about anything written by Stephen King), watching movies (including Marvel, DC, Star Wars, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Transformers, and the Fast saga), watching TV (including Marvel, Game of Thrones, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and The Legend of Korra), and playing games (including Dungeons & Dragons, Dauntless, Monster Hunter, Deadlock, Hearthstone, and Grand Theft Auto V). I can often be found listening to rock music made any time in the last ~60 years and working on programming passion projects. When outside, I enjoy running, hiking, and rock climbing.