As early as I can remember, I enjoyed math in school. It may be difficult for some to believe, but I actually thought that those long homework assignments were fun|though definitely not a breeze!

My high school courses consisted of algebra, geometry, trigonometry and pre-calculus. In 1983, I graduated from St. John's University in Jamaica, New York with a BS in Mathematics. A common question people asked as I went through college was, “So what are you planning to do with your math degree—teach?” Well, I knew that teaching was not for me, so I sought a secondary area of concentration. At that time, St. John's math curriculum offered majors in actuarial science (probability and statistics within the insurance field) and computer science. Since actuarial science required a long-term commitment through ten grueling certification exams, I decided to go with the latest and greatest high tech field. I haven't regretted it since!

In college, I took these math courses: Calculus I, II, III, & IV, Linear Algebra, Honors Seminar in Mathematics (i.e., History of Math), Differential Equations, Complex Variables, and Elementary Number Theory. My computer science courses consisted of: Introduction to Computer Graphics, Introduction to Computing, Fundamentals of Computer Science, Digital Circuits & Computer Organization, Programming Languages, Applied Computer Science, and Systems Software I. In addition, I took Operating Systems and Database Concepts as postgraduate computer science courses.