About Me:
Although my given name is David, I go by my middle name name "Shea". I grew up always being called Shea, and it seems to have stuck.
I was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. My parent's are David and Roxy Vick, and Lynn Shoemaker. All three of my parents live in Albuquerque. My father is a former ER doctor turned software consultant working with the University of New Mexico. Basically he plays around with robots all day long and somehow gets paid to do it. My stepmother Roxy is a pharmacist who recently started working for Target. My mother is an educator. She specializes in special education and biology. She and her dog Maggie are both avid lake-goers.
I was a secondary school student at El Dorado High School. In 2000 I graduated and started my undergraduate career at the University of New Mexico. In 2004 I graduated from Rice University with a degree in mathematics. The two most inspiring/influential professors I interacted with as an undergraduate are: Dr. Daniel Finley at the University of New Mexico, and Dr. Frank Jones at Rice University.
After graduating from Rice, I enrolled as a graduate student in mathematics the University of Pennsylvania. I've been here at Penn for about four years now. I'll be graduating next May.
I also have a wonderful wife Monica Vela-Vick. She recently graduated with her law degree from the University of Michigan. She spends her time serving the community as an assistant city solicitor working for the City of Philadelphia.