Brief Bio

I have been a member of the Harvey Mudd faculty since 1993, first in the Department of Mathematics and then in the Department of Computer Science. I completed the Ph.D. in computer science at UIUC under C. L. Liu and A.B. from Harvard in applied mathematics. My research is in the area of algorithms for computational biology. I have also worked on algorithms for VLSI CAD and high-performance cut-through and wormhole-routed networks. More details can be found in my CV.

Teaching

At Harvey Mudd, I teach the introductory computer science courses (CS 5 Green and Black), Algorithms, advanced topics courses in algorithms and computational complexity theory, and contribute to the introductory computational biology course. I have also taught at UIUC (discrete mathematics), MIT (algorithms), and Caltech (CS 2).

Research

My research addresses algorithmic issues in computational biology and, in particular, the problem of reconciling pairs of evolutionary trees such as gene trees and species trees and pairs of species trees (e.g., parasites and hosts).

Our research has resulted in several software packages for maximum parsimony reconciliation including Jane 4 and eMPRess.

Service

I serve on the Executive Committee of the Computing Research Association (CRA). I served as co-chair of the Computing Research Association Education Committee (CRA-E) from 2011-2017. I have served multiple terms on the Computing Community Consortium (CCC). At Harvey Mudd, I have served on the Reappointment, Promotion, and Tenure Committee; the Faculty Executive Committee; and the Department Chairs Committee.

Pranking

Harvey Mudd College has a proud tradition of pranking. I strive to do my part in maintaining this tradition.

Personal

My wife, Laura, and I have two sons. In our free time we enjoy hiking, mountain biking, cooking, and eating.