My “Roots”

I consider myself to be somewhat like a bonsai tree in that I was periodically re-potted throughout my childhood, but it was done with a level of care. In general, I was raised in the suburban areas around Orlando, FL and Atlanta, GA, and I continued this trend of moving around as I got older. I spent my twenties in various parts of northern Arizona, where I went back to school, got married, got an MS in math, and then taught at NAU for four years. I eventually left NAU to return to school at Tulane for a PhD in physics studying quantum computing, but after only a year, many influences led me to take a job at the Air Force Research Lab’s Information Directorate in upstate NY, where I was fortunate enough to go on a sabbatical of sorts to finish my PhD at Clarkson University in the Clarkson Center for Complex Systems Science. Due to a complicated series of events over the past several years including a pandemic, I find myself now working remotely for AFRL residing in Pittsburgh, PA, and I assume I will be rolling on to somewhere new eventually.

My Family

I have been married to Elizabeth since 2009. She has been a guiding force in my life and has taught me how to work with life, rather than against it; supporting me through the many ups and downs of a rather non-traditional path through decades of education. The year 2021 was a tough one when both of our long time pets, Munda and Sidka (see below), passed away, but we now have a new cohort of animals in the house with Newt and Maya (also below).

Sitka in form.jpg — Sidka (2009-2021)

Another force of Nature in my life was our dog, Sidka, who dragged me out to the woods for about an hour each day for over a decade. Much of my creative thinking occurred while on these walks and if not for her, I would still be studying quantum mechanics inside instead of complexity science.