Joe Fields is a professor of Mathematics at Southern Connecticut State University. He earned his doctorate at the University of Illinois, Chicago under the direction of Vera Pless. His thesis was in the area of Algebraic Coding Theory, an interest which he continues to pursue as lead developer and maintainer of the GAP package Guava - a computational tool for researchers in Coding Theory. He is also a leader in the free/open source textbook movement having authored “A Gentle Introduction to the Art of Mathematics,” an open source textbook for an introduction to proofs course. Since 2009 he has been co-coordinator of the NES/MAA (Northeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America) Collegiate Mathematics Competition. Outside of Math, his interests are varied - ranging from playing saxophone to sculpting to electrical experimentation. He drives a fully electric Mazda Miata that he personally converted to battery power. He lives in New Haven, CT with his wife and son and a dog named Dan.
