Kaibab Trail, Grand Canyon National Park
ABOUT ME...
I am originally from northern Minnesota (Fertile, MN, population 863) where I was raised on a corn, wheat, and dairy farm. My connection with geology came very young - I spent endless hours picking up rocks from glacial gravels looking for the rare Paleozoic fossils from southern Canada that survived several hundred miles of glacial transport. After graduating from high school, I I attended the University of North Dakota School of Engineering and Mines in Grand Forks, North Dakota from 1990 until 1995. Although I began college majoring in Engineering Physics, over the course of four years I changed majors to Political Science, History, English, Russian & Soviet Studies, Environmental Technology, and finally to Geology with a Space Studies minor. I moved to Arizona in 1996 and became a Manufacturing Production Supervisor at a Motorola factory, overseeing the production of Radio Frequency semiconductors and computer motherboards. By 2000 I had enough of industry and took an 'early retirement' to go back to school at Arizona State University where I graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in Geology in August 2003 and a Ph.D. in Geological Sciences in May 2008. I am currently a Residential Faculty member at Mesa Community College and am actively seeking an Assistant Professor position in a research and teaching university.