Thank you for visiting my website.
I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Experimental Zoology Group at Wageningen University & Research. I work with Guillermo Amador and Johan van Leeuwen in addition to an incredible team of fellow researchers, technicians, and students. Broadly, I am an experimental biologist with a focus on biomimetics, fluid-structure interactions, and science education. Over the years, I have studied organisms ranging over six orders of magnitude in size, from microscopic Vorticella convallaria to large birds of prey. Much of my work is interdisciplinary, spanning fields including physiology, developmental biology, evolution, phylogenetics, ecomorphology, fluid dynamics, biomimetics, machine learning, optics, computational modeling, and biomechanics. I love asking questions, thinking about new things, collaborating across fields in science, and building things.
Currently I am uncovering the secrets of cuttlefish suction cups and locomotion. We have much to learn from these beautiful little creatures!
Previously, I worked with Dr. Rachel Pepper in the Physics Department at the University of Puget Sound. In addition to my research, I built a IEC nuclear reactor (www.upsreactor.com) and taught a course on the subject. I studied the biomechanics and fluid dynamics of an important and overlooked microscopic organism, Vorticella. I also worked to uncover the physics of splash cup plants. My research is rooted in the fundamental aspects of evolution, ecology, and the physical laws of the natural world.
Between my Ph.D. and my post-doc at UPS, I earned a secondary science teaching certificate and taught 6th grade science to over 150 students in a rural school in Washington State. This experience fundamentally reshaped how I think and how I educate.
I earned my Ph.D. with Dr. Bret Tobalske at the Univ. of Montana Flight Lab (www.umflightlab.com). I studied the aerodynamics of morphing wings and aeroelastic feathers. I was very fortunate to earn an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship which I used to pay my student loans.
I recently relocated to the Netherlands with my wife, Paige, and dog, Chossy. We are absolutely thrilled to be here.
I’m an avid cyclist, musician, designer, tinkerer, amateur historian, naturalist, and photographer. I have bicycled across North America solo, built an experimental airplane with high school students (and flown in it!), owned a successful DJ company and DJ’ed hundreds of events, managed a bike shop, climbed several first ascents throughout Montana, and adventured through much of the western US by foot and bike. I have around 100 hours as a paraglider pilot and a few dozen in fixed-wing prop aircraft. I am the first person in my family to earn a college degree.
My goals, in everything, are to 1) explore the fascinating world around us, 2) be useful, and 3) leave the world better than I found it.