ABOUT

I grew up in the metropolis of Wayne, Illinois, where a love of brio train magnets led to a career in planetary geophysics. As a high schooler, I got the science bug from Carl Sagan videos (actually VHS tapes from the library!) and a summer class at Fermilab, where I went on to intern during college. I was an undergrad at Cornell, where I double majored in Physics and Film, turning an interest in science documentaries into a full time job. There I also began working on the Mars Exploration Rovers.

    After College I worked at CERN/University of Zurich for a year, then headed back to Mars as a lab researcher at Caltech. From there I transitioned to UCLA where I PhD'ed about lunar volatiles, IR remote sensing and thermophysical lab work and modeling. I entertained the department with my student films. 

   I then went to JPL, where I postdated, then became a Staff Scientist and a real life geophysicist working on the Moon and Mars. I also used my film degree to work on the revamped Cosmos Series as a script advisor and as a series producer/director for the PhDetours online series for PhDTV (Part of PHD Comics). 

    With the advent of children, I moved to Dallas with my growing family and switched over to the Planetary Science Institute and Southern Methodist University. We've been doing awesomely well here, and I now am involved in several planetary missions (LRO, InSight, OSIRIS-REx, VIPER...), PI of a new microwave instrument, I've taught an intro planetary class at SMU and UTD, have several graduate students and a postdoc, two great kids, a greater wife, and a new treehouse.