I grew up in Ohio and received my BS in astronomy from The Ohio State University. I also did my MS and PhD work at OSU, studying stellar evolution, stellar nucleosynthesis, and computer modeling of stellar interiors. As a graduate student I taught astronomy at the OSU branch campuses in Lima and Marion Ohio. After receiving my PhD I spent one year as a visiting assistant professor at Bowling Green State University, then 10 years as an assistant professor of physics at Southeast Missouri State University. I have been a professor of astronomy and planetarium director at SPC since 1996.