While working for the NSA, I did my MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering at night at the University of Maryland. I enjoyed graduate school so much, I decided to apply for the PhD program. Balancing PhD work and the agency proved to be impossible, so I resigned to be a full-time student once again. I am, however, forever grateful for the influence the NSA has had on my life.

I also fell in love with Abstract Algebra, and began work on a second MS in Applied Math, in parallel with my PhD. My passion for the subject came late in life, at 23. Most mathematicians, I think, fall in love with their area before they graduate high-school. This is one of the reasons I am so dedicated to mathematical outreach. Had I known what Group Theory was as a teenager, I would have been a mathematician from the start.

In the Spring and Summer of 2004, I had the extraordinary privilege to enjoy doing a "semester abroad" program at New College (est. AD 1379,) Oxford University (est. circa AD 1090s,) through the Washington International Studies Council. (Anyone with questions about studying at Oxford as a visiting American student, especially with WISC, should feel very comfortable contacting me.)

After returning from Oxford, I decided that I really do enjoy Mathematics research more than anything else, and so I moved into the Mathematics Department full-time. I was in the Applied Mathematics program, not pure math, which is unusual for an algebraist. But I wanted to work on applications of Abstract Algebra to the real world. This unfortunately meant that I had to take written and oral examinations for Mathematics at the PhD level. This too was a formative experience in my life, and helped me see the intellectual value inherent in pure "difficulty".

After e-publishing a paper on linear algebra over finite fields, I entered into correspondence with Nicolas Courtois, who invited me to Paris to work with him for the summer of 2006. This began my love affair with the French language, and while my pronunciation is still horrible, I have gained a lot of real and actual mathematical benefit from learning French. I strongly recommend any American mathematics student learn either French or Russian.

Then it came time to write the PhD Dissertation and do the job hunt. While breaking codes was very entertaining, the core joy that I derived from my work was developing tools for linear and polynomial systems of equations over finite fields. This is a solid, clearly defined and mathematical problem, and yet there is so much one can do, and so many odd cases, specializations and optimizations.

The dissertation had three major results. First, was the cryptanalysis of Keeloq, the cipher used in almost all automobiles with remote key-less entry. It was a total break, not reduced-rounds or a simplification of the cipher, and was more than 10,000 times faster than brute force. Second, a linear algebra over GF(2) library which is now called M4RI, and which features several algorithms that I developed (See software). Third, I introduced SAT-Solvers into the Algebraic Cryptanalysis community. Only time will tell if this has any impact, but people appear to be using it as a tool. Frankly, if MAGMA can solve your system of equations, it will and quickly. But if not, particularly if you run out of memory, SAT-Solvers have low memory usage and therefore might be preferable.

Then during the job search, much to my shock, Fordham University offered me a four-year Visiting Assistant Professorship in Mathematics. Of course, I accepted. And here I am. Sadly, the financial crisis of late 2008 has affected Fordham, both in enrollment projections and donations. Thus my position has been targeted for cost-savings, returning me to the job market.