About James

Key Facts

• Professor of Mathematics, Colorado State University
• Co-developed Linear Data with Professor Emily J. King. A course where Data Science and Linear Algebra are equals. Take the online course CSU Online’s Data Science Linear Algebra Or get our Free Book.
• Industry experience with Intel Corporation 1997-2001 consulting 2009-2020.
• Gave first polynomial-time algorithms for…
  • Direct and Central product decomposition even in black-box (thesis) Read more.
  • Intersecting classical groups (with P.A. Brooksbank) Read more.
  • Isomorphism testing of finite groups of most order (with H. Dietrich) Read more.
• Responsible for…
  • Continuous data clustering (with P.A. Brooksbank & M.D. Kassabov) See it for yourself.
  • Negative answer to a question of Gowers and Babai on fast group isomorphism through local-global structure. Read the whole story.
  • Generalizing Hilbert’s Nullstellensatz to arbitrary tensor data. (with U. First, J. Maglione) Powerful but takes a minute to explain here.

Random Questions

• Age? Yes I am aging, but I am working out now. Trying to see Haley’s Comet twice in my life.
• YouTube? My channel @algeboy gathers workshop talks on Tensors by me and my friends and videos of some of my online courses.
• Take a Course from me?
• Coming Summer 2026 is my course on Math for Computational Science with Professor Dustin Tucker.

Connect

If you would like me to learn about your profession join me here on

Education

• Ph.D. in Mathematics, University of Oregon, Eugene, June 2008.
  

  Dissertation: Group decompositions, Jordan algebras, and algorithms for p-groups,
  Adviser: Professor William M. Kantor.
  

  Selected Awards: D. K. Harrison award 2008 (department award generously provided by the Harrison Family to reward ``the most outstanding graduate student'').

• M.S. in Mathematics, University of Oregon, Eugene, June 2004.
• B.S. in Mathematics, Portland State University, Portland, June 2002.
  

  Selected Awards: Rempfer Scholarship Award 2002 (department award generously provided by the Rempfer Family to ``encourage promising undergraduate mathematics students'').

Positions

• Colorado State University, Professor, Department of Mathematics, Since August 2011.
• Industrial Consulting: Since 2009
• The Ohio State University Zassenhaus Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics, September 2008 to August 2011.
• University of Oregon Graduate Teaching Fellow, Department of Mathematics, September 2002 to June 2008.
• Intel Corporation Intel Architecture Labs, Jones Farm, December 1997 to June 2001.

Visiting Positions & Special Program Invitations

• Henri Poincare Institute, Sorbonne, Paris Post-quantum Cryptography & Random Tensors October 2024.
• Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Cambridge U., Cambridge, Special Program: Groups Representations and Applications Jan. 2020.
• Cornell, Ithaca New York, April 2019.
• University of Auckland, Auckland New Zealand, Jan.-- Mar. 2019.
• Hausdorff Institute for Mathematics, Bonn Germany, Trimester Program: Logic & Algorithms in Group TheoryOct.-- Dec. 2018.
• Einstein Institute for Mathematics, The Hebrew University Jerusalem, February - June 2013
• Trinity University, National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates in Mathematics, Summer 2001.