Jeff Holt has a B.A. from Humboldt State University and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas. He has been teaching mathematics for over 20 years, the last eleven at the University of Virginia. He currently has a joint appointment in the Department of Mathematics and the Department of Statistics at UVA.   During his career, Holt has won several awards for teaching.

He has had NSF grants to support student math and science scholarships, the implementation of a computer-based homework system, and the development of an innovative undergraduate number theory course which later was turned into the text, Discovering Number Theory, coauthored with John Jones. In his spare time he enjoys lowering the value of his house with do-it-yourself home-improvement projects.