2016-Feb-01
I was born in Greensburg, PA on a cold day in April of 1978. I grew up in North Huntingdon in a fairly Catholic household. My first seven years of school were at what used to be Immaculate Conception School in Irwin, followed by six at Norwin Junior High East and Norwin High School. Following that, I studied at Westminster College in tiny New Wilmington, PA, where they had the temerity to present me with a degree in Mathematics and Computer Science in May of 2000.
I started working at the University of Pittsburgh that July, briefly working on the student lab image until they found out that I had picked up some Unix adminstration skills from my days at Westminster...so they quickly ushered me over to Physics & Astronomy and Geology & Planetary Science. I was only in Geology for nine months before I began spending five days a week (sometimes more) in Physics & Astronomy, where I have been ever since.
While it is often a challenge full of unusual problems...working with the people that are solving the mysteries of the Universe (and have the coolest equipment to do it) is quite literally my dream job.
Read on for something a bit more interesting than this boilerplate bio.