Biography and Education
Howdy! My name is C.J. Bott, and I am beyond thrilled to be returning to BYU as a Visiting Assistant Teaching Professor to share my love of mathematics, teaching, and the gospel of Jesus Christ! Please come by and introduce yourself! I graduated from BYU in 2016 with the second cohort of ACME (go Cohort Beta!), where my concentration was in Mathematical Theory, my capstone project being titled "Abstract Algebra and Applied Math: Friends or Foes?" (spoiler: the answer is friends!). I then received my Master's degree in 2018 under Nathan Priddis here at BYU, with Master's Thesis "Mirror Symmetry for K3 Surfaces with Non-symplectic Automorphism". Since then, I've been studying Applied and Computational Algebraic Geometry under Frank Sottile at Texas A&M University, receiving my PhD in mathematics in 2025, with my Dissertation "Computation of Schubert Galois Groups". While my specialization has been in solving and studying the geometry and symmetries of systems of polynomial equations, my math interests are extremely broad and I hope to teach just about everything! I also just finished teaching four years of early-morning Seminary, and am excited to continue to help young adults come closer to our Savior - especially in a math class setting! I connect strongly with the mission of BYU, and am passionate about helping students better themselves, their families, and the world around them in every possible way!
My wife, Noelle, and I have two incredible children: Eleanor (age 7), and Soren (age 3) who keep us busy and bring so much love and light into our lives! Noelle has a Bachelor's degree from BYU and a Master's degree from the University of Michigan, both in Music (Trumpet Performance), but switched fields and has been a software engineer for the past eight years. Eleanor loves anything creative or crafty, and Soren likes making us laugh with his jokes. As a family, we love to play board games of all kinds - from the party games almost anyone can enjoy to the complicated strategy games that can take many hours or multiple play sessions. We are so excited to be back in Utah with so many opportunities for outdoor adventures, and especially that we get to be so close to our families again! Again, please come by and say hello - I look forward to meeting and working with you!