Since there are plenty of résumé-type web pages with places for one to list job titles, degrees, accolades, and the like,
I thought it might be a better use of this page to give a more personal description of my upbringing and what makes me the
adult homo sapiens that I am today.
I'm a descendent of two family lines both heralding from what was likely the same small farming region in southwest Germany prior to their relocation
to the same small farming region in the midwestern United States. I grew up in what had been the first settlement west of the Mississippi river by white colonials - Saint Genevieve, Missouri.
It's about an hour south of Saint Louis, as one from such an unknown town is always required to preface during small talk.
Growing up in a small rural town with more farms than fast-food restaurants probably isn't extremely uncommon in the land of amber waves of grain
(or is that supposed to be Russia now?). It's probably clear to most, then, how even such a relatively sheltered upbringing can shape one's
outlook on the world. When the term diversity rings no bells in one's teenage mind beyond the 2004 Anchorman pondering of "what 'n the hell's diversity?"
and the response that "it was an old, old wooden ship, used during the Civil War era," one steps into college, and later adult, life with a nearly blank slate upon
which to begin understanding the term in the real world.
My high school class graduated with 32 students. Sure, there were more kids our age at the cross-town rival school up the hill, but only about 150 more.
It is safe, albeit unfortunate, to say that 99% of the people in the town where I was raised were white, mostly middle-class, and mostly Anglo-European Evangelicals in descent and spirituality.
Indeed it took some time before I understood the importance of diversifying my interactions with people, expanding the types of content
I consumed, and actively learning about cultures, languages, belief systems, and socio-economic situations different from my own. I've been fortunate
to have some great friends and teachers along the way (one of the strongest voices being that of my wife, Ally), and I continue to be humbled by the viewpoints and experiences of others from which I'm able to learn.
I'm grateful that my mother instilled in me a strong passion for reading, learning, and creating from a young age. Books offered me a lens into
worlds and experiences (both human and non-human) that I'd otherwise never have contemplated as a child. I was also fortunate to grow up on 200+ acres of
combined farmland and forest which was always available to serve as any setting my imagination could conjur up after the latest book I'd read.
I know I'd not have made it through 22.5 years of school nor the subject matter of my chosen fields of study had I not been taught to enjoy reading,
to appreciate learning and hard work, and to think creatively as a rug rat.
Now that I'm what society calls an "adult," I find my thirst for knowledge, new experiences, skills, and adventures to be as insatiable as ever.
It seems the freedom of time and finances offered by the post-grad-school "adult" in modern society often leaves me with too many pursuits at any given time,
rendering me a dabbler-of-many-trades, versus even a Jack-of-all, and certainly a master of few. There's just something so satisfying about that moment when
a natural phenomenon, a physical skill, or a piece of technology that had previously been useless due to a lack of understanding suddenly becomes a new superpower
as the brain creates a neural net devoted to that thing. In that moment, ignorance is transformed into bliss through learning. I strive to never lose the
childlike sense of wonder that propels me through nerdy pursuit after nerdy pursuit.
If you're more interested in the professional side of my life, please dive into any one of the riveting reads on my Publications page or see the links to my LinkedIn, GitHub, Google Scholar, Goodreads, and Facebook pages in the footer for more information. Also feel free to download a (potentially less up-to-date) copy of my résumé.