It's probably appropriate that I ended up in an Environmental Science department, and a Marine Center. I have always split my interests between various fields, but always circled back to water and the environment. I started out as an engineering major at Stanford, then switched to engineering geology, where I could use practical approaches to look at questions about the earth. I just found rocks to be a lot more interesting than bridges, and field camp a lot more appealing than the computer lab. Of course I have come to love the computer lab as well, but only in so far as it helps me see further into the data I collect about the natural world.

I served in the Peace Corps for two years in Mali, which was an incredible experience. I did some environmental education, worked in the health center, built some wells, drank a lot of tea and learned a lot about myself and about what it's like to be a stranger. It was one of the best things I have ever done and though and I am sure it was more valuable to me than to the people in my village, I hope I left the place a little better than when I arrived.

I came back to the states and returned to school to take premed classes. This is a common reaction to Peace Corps service. I soon realized that I dislike memorization way too much to make it through med school, but discovered an interest in chemistry at the same time. I found a graduate program (at the University of Washington) where I could indulge my interests in chemistry, geology, water, and engineering, and muck around in boats and submarines at the same time. I graduated in 2009 from UW in chemical oceanography after spending a few years building a sensor to measure CO2 in deep ocean hot springs (black smokers).

I came to Western and have been teaching in Environmental Science, and at the Shannon Point Marine Center as part of the MIMSUP program. I have branched out from CO2 in very hot places, to focus on some collaborative research on ocean acidification - the effects of CO2 on the ecology of our future oceans.