I went to work at The Boeing Company immediately after graduation.  I was a test engineer on the PAC-3 project out of the Anaheim office, writing software and procedures for test systems.  In December 2000, I moved back east and took a job with Scientific-Atlanta (now Cisco), working as a test engineer for cable modems and set-top boxes for cable television.  Both jobs were certainly enjoyable, and I learned quite a bit from my time as an engineer, but I found myself with a wandering eye, career-wise.

I went back to school to start working on a graduate degree at Georgia State University while I was working at Scientific-Atlanta.  I started taking classes toward an MBA, but (as so often happens) I got "hooked" by my first economics class, and the rest is history.  I entered the Master's program, and then the PhD program, under the wing of my fantastic advisor Ragan Petrie.  I finally quit my engineering job in May 2006, to dedicate myself more fully to my studies.  I worked briefly for my favorite nonprofit, MedShare International, as a volunteer coordinator.

I eventually weaned myself off of "real work" altogether to immerse myself fully in academia.  The academic life (and life at research-oriented places outside the ivory tower) is really fantastic--your job is to think about interesting things, and to help other people develop interesting thoughts about interesting things.  I completed my PhD in May 2010 and moved up to Williamstown shortly thereafter.  I started teaching at Williams in Fall 2010.  It is a real pleasure to be here--I'm really enjoying getting to know the faculty and the students.  And the area is pretty lovely.

I do have a bit of a life outside of work.  I'm married to Curt Wells, who is a professional audio guy.  We have five beautiful young cats.  I am a big reader, mostly of fiction.  My favorite authors include Margaret Atwood, Jane Austen, Thomas Pynchon, David Foster Wallace, and Salman Rushdie.  I'm a fairly "volunteery" person, though we're still getting settled in western Mass and have not yet found many outlets for the do-gooder instinct.  I'm very much looking forward to exploring the local arts and culture scene and doing some hiking, as well.