Benjamin Johnson

Biography

Born in Rockford, Illinois, on June 19, 1976, I moved to Fort Worth, TX at 6 years old.  There, I attended first grade through high school, graduating from Temple Christian School in 1994.  I went to college at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, where I majored in mathematics and computer science, minored in youth ministry, played football as a wide receiver, and earned teaching certification in the state of Virginia for math and computer science.  In 1999, I graduated summa cum laude from Liberty and started graduate work in mathematics at Virginia Tech University, earning a masters degree before transferring to the program in Logic and the Methodology of Science at UC Berkeley in 2001.

In graduate school I became increasingly involved in various aspects of collegiate club gymnastics, beginning to learn the sport at Virginia Tech, becoming more involved in competitions, and eventually taking leadership roles throughout my graduate school career.  I was elected president of the Virginia Tech Gymnastics club in 2000 and directed that year's (5th annual) Hokie Classic.  When I transferred to Berkeley I became involved with the Cal gymnastics club, inviting members there to join the NAIGC, the informal competitive league of which Virginia Tech was a part.  As president of the Cal gymnastics club over the next several years, the club became larger more active in competitions, and other clubs in west coast states began to join our competitions too.   After hosting the 2006 NAIGC gymnastics championships, (an event with over 500 competitors and a budget exceeding $50K), with my fellow student officers from the Cal gymnastics club, I proposed changes to the NAIGC constitution that would create an elected board of directors who could help provide more broad support for the NAIGC championships, oversee the organization's growth and development, and provide support for member clubs.  The changes were ratified unanimously at the 2006 NAIGC annual meeting, and I was elected as president of the board.  With input from many other directors I authored the NAIGC's 501c3 application, which was accepted in 2008.  The NAIGC now has a stable business model and an impressive array of techinical resources offered through the website.  Directing this organization is a project in which I continue to invest time, alongside an impressive group of well-motivated directors from across the country.

After finishing a PhD in Logic and the Methodology of Science at UC Berkeley in May 2008, and also teaching a summer math class, I spent a few months traveling the world and kiteboarding in various parts of Europe and Asia.  Starting in 2009 I began working as a postdoctoral researcher at Carnegie Mellon University with Nicolas Christin.  In June 2009, I took a summer lecturer position at Berkeley, and now I am working as a postdoctoral scholar in Berkeley's School of Information with John Chuang.   I expect to return to Carnegie Mellon Univeristy in spring 2010 to continue my postdoctoral research there, and I am also in the midst of an academic job search for positons beginning in the fall of 2010.