I have one of the greatest math jobs possible: lots of good problems, management that's really interested in their solutions, and plenty of opportunities for professional growth. It's ironic that I didn't want to work at the National Security Agency (NSA) when I started, and I began my career here looking for a “real” math job.

NSA is the largest employer of mathematicians in the US and is part of the “intelligence community,” with the mission of solving cryptologic problems. I can't talk about the specifics of much of what I've worked on, but I can tell you something about my career.

After receiving my PhD from Duke, I started in NSA's Cryptologic Mathematician Program (CMP). The CMP is just one of many ways mathematicians are integrated into the NSA work force. Over three years I had tours in five different offices, each giving me a different perspective on NSA's mission. During this period I took NSA courses in cryptanalysis, statistics, number theory, and other advanced math topics. At the same time NSA sent me to school part-time at Johns Hopkins, where I eventually earned an MS in computer science.

Magic and mathematics have always interested me–I even wrote my dissertation on permutation groups generated by card shuffling. During my tours at NSA offices, I learned the perfect shuffle permutation was used to design interconnection networks. With my interest in magic and my research in the mathematics of card shuffling, I studied these circuits with gusto.