B.S., computer science; B.A., mathematics
Upper Arlington, Ohio

Presentation Remarks:

Nat, you have been described in terms of a "rare combination of intellectual giftedness, academic skill, athletic prowess, curiosity, generosity, maturity, and an incredibly strong work ethic." As a double major in computer science and mathematics, you demonstrated a passion for your disciplines that inspired professors and peers alike, and skills that reflect doctoral quality.

For example, one professor tells of a problem that was stumping her team of peer researchers. She shared the challenge with your class, and you returned the next period with the counterexample that they were seeking. Another tells how you teamed up with him on a research project "just for fun" during your sophomore year, employing the Poisson Binomial Distribution and entropy to demonstrate how producers of the TV program Survivor manipulate results by the order in which ballots are read. That was just one of three different research projects you have taken on across mathematics and computer science, and it was recently published in the College Mathematics Journal.

Nat, you don't just bring professional maturity and passion to your work, but also an invaluable sense of compassion. One of your professors tells how he found you in a lab, astutely helping a group of younger students approach a particularly difficult project, several semesters after you had taken that class. As a departmental fellow and tutor, you have often worked with other students outside of your normal hours, and even into the early hours of the morning.

When not crunching numbers on the hill (and earning a 4.0 major GPA in the process), you have earned a daunting reputation for crunching opponents on the football field. As a four-year letter-winning defensive lineman, you played in 39 games, amassing 114 tackles, 33 of them for a loss, and 15 sacks. You earned the Big Red's Rookie of the Year award and, as a sophomore, the Defensive Player of the Year, as well as numerous regional honors and this year's Larry Scheiderer Award for highest GPA among Denison's male athletes.

On the national stage, you were one of only ten computer science majors to receive a 2012 Barry Goldwater Scholarship, and one of only four Division III defensive lineman to be named to the first-team Academic All-America squad. Having made the second team the year before, you are one of just 13 Denisonians to receive the honor multiple times.

Nat, as your coach describes, you are the epitome of the scholar-athlete, and we're confident you'll take your A-game as you begin your Ph.D. work in computer science next year at Duke University.