I was born in Dallas, TX in 1982. I have lived in Texas, Alabama, Massachusetts, and even Australia, but the bulk of my life has been spent in Tennessee.

I bounced around majors as an undergraduate, moving from nuclear engineering to electrical engineering and finally to computer science. I actually ended up getting a triple major in computer science, history, and mathematics.

I realized that while I loved technology, I was far more interested in people than most of my classmates. I considered law school, and did quite well on the LSAT, but decided I didn't want to do that either. In my final semester as an undergraduate, I took the introductory course in microeconomics from Stephen Buckles, and fell in love with it. I applied to the University of Tennessee because it was in-state tuition and if going from one class of economics training straight to a graduate program was a mistake, I wanted it to be a cheap one.

After a bit of a rocky start, it all clicked and now I am completing my dissertation and receiving my doctorate with fields in environmental economics, industrial organization, and public finance. I actually passed the field exams in all three (despite only needing two to graduate) because it just felt unbalanced not to do it.

I am a retired concert-pianist (I haven't played in public in years) and I dabble in writing my own music. I am addicted to current events and can frequently be found browsing news sites. My politics are fairly moderate, but I love following the political process. I skipped my 5th high school reunion because it was on the same night as the first 2004 presidential debate. I write fiction (no, you can't read it), and am pretty good at video games - though I haven't really played them in months.

I have some knowledge of Japanese. I play a lot of chess and shogi (Japanese Chess), enjoy having a beer in quiet bars with people I know, and get really mad at the inability of fast food restaraunts to successfully change the default condiments on their hamburgers. I work out several times a week, and have increased my physical fitness from abysmal to awful. I enjoy teaching, have a sarcastic sense of humor, and really, really loathe plagiarists, as some have discovered.

To the right I include maps of the countries/states I have spent time in (not flown over).