Biosketch
From 1995-2000, I spent 4 great years at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor pursuing a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a B.S. in German. During the 1996-97 school year, I studied abroad in Germany through Wayne State University's Junior Year in Munich program. While in Munich for the year, I lived with 7 other roommates in the Agnes-Adelheid Studentenheim and studied at both the Technische Universität München and Ludwigs-Maximilians-Universität. (here are some impressions)
I returned home to the Ann Arbor campus and was a bit disgruntled because of the lack of interest of engineers to study abroad, the lack of interest in pursuing foreign languages, and most of all, the lack of infrastructure to send students abroad. So, with the help of others (including one Prem Mukherjee), we began the International Programs in Engineering at the University of Michigan within the College of Engineering. I worked there as a student advisor until I graduated, helping engineers go abroad and helping the Department of Germanic Languages develop bilingual engineers.
In the summer of 1998, I decided to return to Germany, this time to work as an intern for Siemens AG in Bad Neustadt an der Saale (oder NES-online, Webcam auf dem Markplatz) nestled in the Rhön Hills in the Lower Franconia district in the state of Bavaria. While in "Neuscht", I lived with the Lux's. Great people! And you can check out the store my host-mother owns: Parfuemerie Lux.
Summer 1999, saw me continue the "German" theme, this time with Volkswagen of America in Auburn Hills, MI. Great times there and met quite an interesting bunch of interns (you guys know who you are).
In May 2000, I finally graduated and turned down my invitation to a East African agroforestry assignment with the US Peace Corps (for better for worse). Instead, I immediately left for a season with the National Park Service to work in Zion National Park. I worked in the backcountry, through the Student Conservation Association, patrolling Zion's amazing network of trails and canyons.
Then, under contractual obligations, I left the most beautiful place: amazing people, the fun, the hiking, the rapelling, and adventures everyday to work for Robert Bosch Corporation in Kalamazoo, MI. Since I graduated from U of M, my aim had been to build my skillset to move me into international development work. That fate was sealed after a trip to Zambia to visit friends. So, I began to investigate my options to return to school and enter a curriculum that would continue to build skills useful for development work. But Kalamazoo wasn't all bad - I met my wife Rachel there!
After a quick stop over in Kennewick, WA, I entered graduate school in the College of Forestry at Oregon State University in Corvallis. There, I pursued my M.S. under Dr. John Garland in the Forest Engineering Department. At OSU, my emphasis was two-fold: 1) to make the transition into the natural resource field, and 2) to build up my academic knowledge of natural resource management. My thesis research was focused on integrating new technology to reduce environmental impacts resulting from forest harvesting. It was an exciting project and it taught me how my engineering skills could be integrated into natural resource research (go here to see publications from the Synthetic Rope Research Team).
In December 2007, I finished my PhD at the University of Florida in Geography, a minor in Natural Resource Management, and a certificate in African Studies (while also learning Swahili) under Abe Goldman and Jane Southworth. My research focused on human-environment interactions and the two-way impacts of landscape change. For my dissertation, I worked on an NSF funded project with faculty from the DoG and McGill University in Montreal to study the effects of parks on landscapes, livelihoods, and biodiversity in and around Kibale National Park in western Uganda.
I joined the faculty in the Department of Geography at the University of New Hampshire as an environmental geographer in September 2007. I am also affiliated faculty with the Department of Natural Resources and the Natural Resources and Earth Systems Science (NRESS) PhD Program. While at UNH, I've continued my research in Uganda, but have also started projects working in rural communities in the US with the Carsey Institute. Currently I teach GEOG 550 Geography of Sub-Saharan Africa, GEOG 572 Physical Geography, GEOG 573 Biogeography, GEOG 673 Environmental Geography, and GEOG 650 Field Methods in Geography.
