I am in my fifth year as an assistant professor in the Department of Geology at Appalachian State University. I teach Introduction to Physical Geology and Advanced Environmental and Engineering Geology in addition to mentoring undergraduate research.

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.

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.