I graduated in 1995 from the Earth Systems program at Stanford. Before starting into marine science in 1999, I ralleyed all over the west as a field assistant. I banded Goshawks on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and cored ice-covered lakes in the Rockies. I caught fish and did fish-surgery in Antarctica. I kayak-surveyed salmon habitat on tributaries to the Columbia River and banded Spotted Owls in the Washington Cascades. I became wildly interested in everything outside.
I worked for Mark Denny as a tech for a year before I decided "this is it!" and plunged into a Ph.D. program with Mark. I love the combination of analysis and field work that ecology and particularly biomechanics requires. I love modelling and clever abstraction, and I love teaching and being a naturalist. Plus, I'm working on the beautiful black seaweed that caught your eye in the picture of my field-site at the end of the rainbow.
I live in the Monterey Harbor on a Seafarer 31 that I've fixed up with help and inspiration from a mad posse of friends. In September 2004 I'm getting married, and my love Heather will move on board too. We sail regularly and enjoy being close to the fishing community in Monterey.
When I finish and leave paradise, I'll move to Portland, where Heather will start Chiropractic school, and I will work in conservation and teach, hopefully with a job that wants me to do both.
