I am a fungal evolutionary biologist whose love of the outdoors has developed into a passion for understanding the “unseen” biodiversity around us.

• Raised in far Northern Idaho, I received my bachelor’s degree at a small liberal arts school named Carleton College in Minnesota. During the first few summers of undergrad, I was incredibly fortunate to work for the Alaskan Center for Conservation Science. Trampling across the artic tundra of the Colville River Basin and bushwhacking through the temperate rainforests of Prince of Wales Island was where I decided to become a biologist. Later in undergrad I studied soil ecology of native tall-grass prairies with Dr. Daniel Hernandez and fell in love with the complexity and power of “unseen” soil communities.

• After undergrad my now wife and I moved out to Utah to be ski-bums for a couple years. Somehow I was put in touch with Mycologist Dr. Bryn Dentinger at the Natural History Museum of Utah and, long-story short, he brought me into the cult of fungi and I started my PhD in his lab (this didn’t slow down my skiing of course). While I wasn’t a “mushroomer” before grad-school it didn’t take long before I joined the club, and now every birthday/holiday present I will get from here on out will likely be mushroom related.

• Since completing my PhD I’ve been a postdoctoral researcher at Duke University in the lab of Dr. Rytas Vilgalys. While the mountains are a little smaller over here and the skiing isn’t quite as good, the mushrooming is excellent and the science is outstanding.

• When I’m not hunched over my laptop or the bench extracting dna I can usually be found outside picking up a new outdoor sport every 6 months or so…