Educational Background:
Like most of you I too started my collegiate education at St. Petersburg College; I earned my general AA degree in 2006. After graduating I enrolled at Clearwater Christian College and majored in Mathematics. In addition to receiving my BS in Mathematics I also dual minored in both Bible and Church Ministries completing my degree in 2009. After solely studying pure (theoretical) mathematics during my undergrad, I decided to change gears and go to the University of Central Florida to study applied mathematics. I enrolled in UCF's Industrial Mathematics program and earned my MS in 2011 writing my thesis on an analysis of a second order nonlinear ordinary differential equation that modeled superfluid He4 in a vortex. While working on my MS I gained experience in teaching at UCF and at Valencia College. I've been tutoring or teaching math in both formal and informal settings since 2005. My mathematical interests include: special functions, matrix analysis, ordinary differential equations, numerical analysis, and perturbations. In 2018 I completed a Web Development Specialist Certificate from SPC and in 2022 I earned certification from ACUE in Effective College Instruction.

Personal Interests:
I have a wonderful wife that I've been married to since 2010. I enjoy studying and discussing Biblical theology with interests in soteriology & ecclesiology. I am an avid baseball fan (go Rays!) and I'm a big fan of the UCF Knights (2017 national champions!). I enjoy playing sports and I also play keyboard/bass in my church's worship band. My wife and I have four children; two boys and two girls.

Teaching Philosophy:
My philosophy of higher education is that of student success. I don't teach because I like to hear myself talk, but rather I teach to the end that my students will reach their end goal. I attempt to carry out this goal by engaging students in critical thinking, remaining flexible in my teaching methods, and being an active participant of student learning. Allow me to explain each of these methods.

1. In order to really learn and enjoy a subject you have to understand it at a logical level. So it's not enough for me to simply do math problems and tell students to memorize formulas, but I try to engage my students and have them try to formulate their own methods and conclusions. For this reason I do not shy away from proofs in class.
2. I realize that every student and every class is different, so I am always willing to tweak my lessons and methods in a way that I'll be able to reach out to the specific population of students in any given class or on any given day.
3. I always encourage students in terms of out of class support. I am certainly willing to meet with a student during office hours face-to-face or virtually.

By the end of my courses I hope that my students not only succeed in passing, but gain an appreciation for mathematics beyond the rote of memorizing processes and evaluating formulas. I want students, despite the apparent difficulty of mathematics, to obtain an interest in the theoretical elegance of mathematics as well as the useful application of the subject.