Dr. Allen was born and reared in Oakland, Maine, has four younger sisters, and has lived in Nevada, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Northern California, New Mexico, Southern California, and Hawaii. He has been to all 50 U.S. states, and has traveled internationally to Mexico, Canada, England, Singapore, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic. Prior to joining the Liberty faculty in 2013, he worked in private industry for 15 years on a variety of projects including the development of sensors for chemical warfare agents, integration of sensor networks for homeland security threat detection, and most recently, the conversion of algae to biofuels for the Department of Defense. He also developed covert and overt chemical markers and taggants for deterring fraud, counterfeiting, and product diversion and taught analytical chemistry at the University of New Mexico. Although his work in industry and academia was very interesting and exciting, his growing desire was to use his expertise in chemistry combined with his faith in a way that would impact God's kingdom, and to work in an environment, like Liberty, where he had the freedom to integrate God's Word into everyday learning. Other interests include praying for and supporting missionaries and studying end-times prophecy. Dr. Allen and his wife have three children who are home-schooled. Dr. Allen enjoys playing basketball and beach volleyball.