Officially a Doctor

As of May 10, 2014 I am officially a doctor. After ten years of college I’m finally officially finished and now am a doctor of philosophy in soil science. It feels great to be finished. I want to give a special thanks to all of my family and friends that have supported me through grad school, especially my beautiful wife, Stacy. I couldn’t have done it without her. Another big thanks goes to my adviser, Dr. Mike Vepraskas. I learned a lot from that guy on both a professional and personal level. Thanks to Chris Niewoehner for all of his help with my research projects. Thanks to my Ph.D. and M.S. committee members for all of their help and guidance. Thanks to the soil science professors at Iowa State University for inspiring me to pursue this career path. Lastly, thanks to all of the faculty, staff, and students in the North Carolina State University Department of Soil Science. I couldn’t imagine doing my graduate work anywhere else.

Some of you may be wondering what my plans are now. As many of you know, I’m currently working as a postdoctoral researcher in the University of Washington Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering. I’ll continue in this position for the foreseeable future. I really like the project, and I’m learning a lot about new root and rhizosphere research methods, and wetland methane biogeochemistry. I also get paid to hang out in Alaska during the summers! Eventually I hope begin a career in a soil science or Agronomy department where I can teach soil science, and continue my research. This has been my dream job since I was a sophomore in college sitting in my first soil science class with Dr. Lee Burras at Iowa State. It’s still my dream job, so I hope it works out. Wish me luck!