I grew up in a northwest suburb of Phoenix called Peoria, AZ, and graduated from Sunrise Mountain High School in 2005.  I went to the University of Arizona for college and got my B.S. in mathematics with a minor in music in 2009, then decided to stay for graduate school. In 2013, I finished my Ph.D.

Music and Me

Aside from mathematics, I have spent much of my life involved in the musical community.  I play the euphonium and trombone.  In high school, I was a member of the youth jazz ensemble Youngsounds of Arizona, as well as my high school bands, and was first chair euphonium in the All-State band.  

In college, I marched for two years in the Pride of Arizona, the University of Arizona's marching band and performed in the Wind Symphony for all four years.  I was also a member of the TubaCats tuba quartet and the tuba ensemble here, and got to play at all sorts of events like Tuba Christmas.

Possibly the most challenging and rewarding musical experience I have had was participating in Drum Corps.  Drum Corps is a competition-driven marching ensemble activity, in which you spend the entire summer playing and marching, traveling from competition to competition, and of course sleeping on gym floors!  I spent three summers (2005, 2006, 2007) traveling the country marching with the Arizona Academy Drum and Bugle Corps.  One of those summers (2006) , we even won the DCI Division II World Championships!

Other Hobbies

I enjoy staying active - between October 2011 and February 2013, my husband and I ran our first three half marathons and our first full marathon! I have also started competing in the sport of Olympic Weightlifting, and in April 2013, I competed at the USA Weightlifting Collegiate Nationals!

  Growing up I was a gymnast and in high school I joined the swim team.  My parents had me  swimming in the pool before I could talk, and had me water skiing as soon as I could stand.  I love the water - interesting, as I lived in Arizona most of my life -  and spending time at Lake Pleasant, a lake just northwest of Peoria, and Lake Columbia in Michigan, where my parents (recently turned snow-bird) live in the summers.






I also like coffee (if that can be considered a hobby),  collecting socks, collecting lion stuffed animals, and traveling to interesting places.