Matt's Bio

Click here for the academic version of my bio.

Matt was born near Columbus, Ohio in 1978. Despite only living there nine years, he was thoroughly indoctrinated with a love of Ohio State football. The next stop for Matt was Amarillo, Texas for three years, followed by Anderson, South Carolina. Here he graduated from Westside High School in 1996 and then journeyed about 30 minutes down the road to go to Clemson University. It was here that he met the love of his life, Leigh Ann.

In 2001, after convincing Clemson that he was worthy of a degree in computer engineering, Matt decided to try his luck in graduate school. So, he packed up again and headed for the rather frigid and windy cornfields of central Illinois to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Leigh Ann made Matt give her an engagement ring before he left and they were married in June 2002 after an agonizing year apart. At UIUC, he received his MS in computer science in 2003 and finished his PhD in 2006. Despite battling a lifelong addiction to academia, Matt manages to lead a somewhat normal life and enjoys reading, lifting weights, and playing ultimate frisbee. Also at UIUC, he was involved with Graduate InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and attended the Urbana Assembly of God church.

After his work in Champaign was done, Matt made the trek back south to work for Cisco Systems and then NetApp as a software engineer. Leigh Ann and Matt currently live in Apex, North Carolina.

Things I Do