What I'm Reading Right Now:

Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash, by Elizabeth Royte

White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son, by Tim Wise 

This is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession, by Daniel J. Levitin

What I'm Listening To Right Now: 

Playing For Change

Dave Matthews Band, Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King 

Andrew Bird, Noble Beasts/Useless Creatures

Pandora (www.pandora.com)

 (my stations - here and here ...and here)

and always: WNCU, WUNC

I was raised in Rochester, New York and attended the State University of New York at Geneseo where I obtained my bachelor's in geological sciences. I then obtained my master's degree in geochemistry at the University of Maine at Orono. My graduate studies included an environmental focus; my graduate thesis was entitled "Beryllium Mobilization as a Result of Episodic Acidification of a Small Watershed in Hancock County, Maine." I studied the release of various beryllium ions from stream substrates after an acidic rainfall; high levels of beryllium compounds in streams are toxic and can result in fish-kills.

While working on my master's degree I conducted laboratory work for an acid rain research project at the Sawyer Environmental Research Center. Upon completion, I spent some time working at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Aberdeen, Maryland, as a lab technician for the U.S. Army, analyzing soils for nerve agents. My next job took me to the Maryland/Virginia/D.C. region as an environmental consultant, where I spent time writing environmental impact statements and coordinating cleanup activities for local governments and various oil companies in the area.

In 1995 I began teaching in North Carolina while attending Elon College, NC State, and UNC Greensboro to obtain my lateral entry teaching license. To date I have taught physical science, earth science, geology, astronomy, chemistry, and AP Environmental Science.

I have been a sponsor for the CHHS Gay-Straight Alliance for several years now.  I have also been involved with the school's equity team, and enjoy working closely with Ms. McClellan and her AVID students.

In my spare time I indulge in my addictions: crossword puzzles, coffee, reading, good food, and my wife and two children.