I was born and raised in rural Polk County, Oregon. I attended Central High School in Independence where I played on school sports teams and spent my summers working the Willamette Valley grass seed harvest. I attended Brigham Young University where I participated in the Honors Program and earned a B.S. degree in Biochemistry. I spent the next ten years as a graduate student and postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at the University of California San Diego.

In Fall 2005 I started my own lab here on the campus of San Diego State University. As a scientist I rely primarily on the skills I developed as a high school ball player and farm hand: namely team work and solving difficult problems with limited resources. But it is lots of fun. Contact me if you have any questions about anything you read on this web site.