I was raised in the booming ex-dairy town of Meridian, Idaho. A cliché suburban landscape, Meridian had few opportunities for excitement, but I was strongly encouraged to discover and sharpen my talents. During this period, I achieved a Black Belt in Taekwondo and an Eagle Scout rank in the Boy Scouts of America. I held various positions in fast food restaurants, a bassist role in a garage punk bad, and graduated from Meridian High School a semester early in 2005.

After completing high school, I majored in communications at Boise State University with a desire to practice public speaking and media production. During this time, I supported myself by working as a line cook in fine dining restaurants and printing t-shirts at a local sporting store. 

Upon graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications during the depths of the 2009 recession, I continued to work in restaurants and the recreation industry until I incurred a shoulder injury in the summer of 2010. During recovery, soul searching and the advice of a good friend lead me to pursue the study of materials science at Boise State beginning in the fall of 2011. At this point, I also began working as a bartender and server at a wine bar, then a steak house. During the course of this degree, I also spent two summers living in the Washington, DC area and working as a research fellow at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. 

Upon finishing a Bachelor of Science degree in Materials Science and Engineering with a minor in Physics, I was hired as a surface scientist in the corporate surface analysis lab for Micron Technology in Boise, Idaho.

Having worked at Micron Technology for long enough to get anxious for continued learning, graduate school applications were the next logical step. My success as a materials science undergraduate in acquiring research experience, advisor support, professional society involvement, and a high GPA, made me a desirable candidate and I was accepted with full financial support to the PhD program in Materials Science at Colorado School of Mines. I am conducting my PhD research at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory on a project funded by the National Science Foundation.

Having fallen for the charm of Golden and the quality of science happening at the National Renewable Energy Labratory, I decided to stay and work at the Labratory doing a mix of previous research and elements of new, data-oriented, research goals. I continued this work for 18 months until I was compelled to move on with a career out of the National Labratory setting. 

After accepting a position with Qorvo Inc. I moved to Bend Oregon in the summer of 2021. Being an active outdoors adventurer and explorer the idea of living in the pacific northwest was exciting, however, the surge of interest in Bend by Californians made doing so more difficult than it should have been. Bend proved to be a town full of recreational opportunities. It was full of young and active people. Bend was dreamy and PNW recreation was savage.