I am in my third year as an assistant professor in the Department of Geology at Appalachian State University. I teach two general education courses, Introduction to Physical Geology and Introduction to Environmental and Applied Geology, in addition to courses in Hydrogeology and Advanced Environmental and Engineering Geology.

My educational background is fairly diverse. I earned a Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree from the University of Dayton in Dayton, OH, in 1989. After deciding to pursue science rather than engineering, I spent an additional year at Dayton and earned a B.S. in Geology in 1990. I moved to New England to pursue a master's degree, graduating with an M.S. in Geological Sciences from the University of Maine in Orono, ME, in 1992. I finished my formal education in the southeast, where I earned a Ph.D. in Earth Sciences from North Carolina State University in 1999.

My previous teaching experiences have taken me around the eastern US. After a stint as a teaching assistant during my graduate work at North Carolina State University, I was a temporary faculty member at Duke University and Appalachian State University. Prior to my return to Appalachian State University, I was in tenure-track positions at Illinois State University and Radford University. My other work experiences include regulatory and consulting positions with the State of North Carolina and the Research Triangle Institute.

My research concentrates on several aspects of hydrogeology:

• Recharge Quantification -  I use  groundwater modeling techniques to quantify recharge to unconfined aquifers. I have been monitoring a field site on Hatteras Island, North Carolina, since 1994, and have a wealth of water-level data on a cross-island transect with which to calibrate transient groundwater flow simulations. I am collaborating with Dr. David Evans of the Department of Geology at Sacramento State University on this work.

• Fractured Bedrock Hydrogeology - In addition to studying barrier-island aquifers, I am interested in flow and transport within fractured bedrock aquifers. I have been monitoring water levels in several wells drilled into fractured bedrock in several rock units in the area. I have also been collaborating in this work with the USGS North Carolina Water Science Center in Raleigh. We have begun borehole geophysical logging in these wells and have established real-time water-level monitoring in a well on Tater Hill.

• Groundwater-Surface Water Interactions - I have been collaborating with two ASU colleagues, Dr. Chris Thaxton (Department of Physics and Astronomy) and Dr. Carol Babyak (Department of Chemistry), in a study of Boone (Kraut) Creek, a small trout stream which flows through campus. We have established several monitoring sites on this stream at which we collect both water quality and discharge data.

In addition to being a hydrogeologist, I also have a wide range of other interests ranging from spending time in the High Country with my wife and daughters, to the outdoors (canoeing, kayaking, hiking, camping), to contra dancing, to music (I play in a contra dance band, dot-dot-dash), to travel.