ABOUT ME

I come from Grand Rapids, MI. I recieved my B.S. in biology from Grand Valley State University. During that time, I spent two summers in a tropical conservation study-abroad program in Belize and Costa Rica. I received my M.S. and Ph.D. in biological science from the University of South Carolina, where I studied plant physiology and ecology. My postdoctoral research was conducted at Clemson University in the areas of agricultural engineering and entomology.

I started teaching biology at Ridge View in 2013. I am currently the Lead Teacher for Allied Health Sciences in the Institute for Health Science magnet program. I teach Biology 1, Honors Biology 1, Advanced Placement Biology, Project Lead the Way - Medical Interventions, and Honors Research.

In the summer of 2019 I took a trip with my wife, Marriah, to Maine and New Brunskwick, Canada. We spent time hiking Acadia National Park, and the Bay of Fundy. The Bay of Fundy is one of the seven wonders of North America. The ocean in the Bay of Fundy has the highest tidal change in the world. In some areas the horizontal tide moved out 3 miles at low tide! The vertical tide can change by as much as 50 ft!

The geologic history of the Bay of Fundy began around 350 million years ago during the Paleozoic era, during the time of Pangea. The North American, South American, and African plates were smashing into each other and formed the chain of mountains that would eventually become the Appalachians. A rift valley formed, which would eventually become the basin of the Bay of Fundy. Around 175 mya, the continents broke up and moved apart. As this happened the basin flooded and the Atlantic ocean was formed. A combination of volcanic activity, tectonics, glaciation, rainfall, and tidal activity contributed to the evolution of the landscape surrounding the Bay of Fundy. Hopewell Rocks on the coast of New Brunswick, is an amazing example of this. Today, a number of seacliffs, fossils, and whales can be found in and around the Bay.