He received his Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Chicago, did postdoctoral work in computational neurobiology at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif, and taught at Oberlin College, before joining CWRU in 2006. He has held visiting positions at Ohio State University and Humboldt University (Berlin, Germany). His work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Simons Foundation, and the Council for the International Exchange of Scholars (Fulbright Program).