I grew up along the Hudson River (an estuary) in New York and majored in geology at The College of William and Mary in Virginia. I was a resident teacher at The Manhattan Country School Farm, an educational organic dairy farm in upstate New York, for a year before attending graduate school at The University of Georgia where I earned a M.S. in Geochemistry in 1998.  I was a research scientist in Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University from 1997 to 2002.

In 2002, I moved to St. Petersburg, FL to manage the Paleoclimatology, Paleoceanography and Biogeochemistry Laboratory (The "Paleolab") at the University of South Florida College of Marine Science. I also began teaching undergraduate courses at St. Petersburg College.

I live with my human family and two cats near downtown St. Petersburg, FL. I enjoy woodworking, vacuum-tube stereos, vinyl (records), riding my fixed-gear bicycle to work and wearing flip-flops.