1981-1985 BS physics at NCSU (Raleigh NC)

NCSU was where my love of physics was first encouraged. I met amazing people there; Worth Seagondollar, Chris Gould, and many others that would forever influence my career. 

1986 Graduate study physics at URI (Kingston RI)

My first try at physics graduate study was at this terrific little program at URI. I was tutored briefly by Peter Nightengale in phase behavior / renormalization / finite size scaling, etc. and made some wonderful friends: Hart, Dejardins, and others. But, theory wasn't where my heart was and at the time, that was the strong suit of the program. Reluctantly, it was time to move on.    

1987-1993 PhD physics Wesleyan University (Middletown CT) 

This small program is in Middletown CT, the classic New England small town. A friend of a friend (Dale Doering) had just taken a position there as a new assistant professor, and was moving into areas that today we call Nanosciences. The small/personal size of the program, the personalities like Lindquist, McIntosh, and Baierlein, and the amazing surroundings of New England gave this place the feel I wanted. Yale was nearby, and NYC only an hour and a half drive. 

1994 Postdoc at University of Pennsylvania (Phila. PA)

I will never be able to thank Dawn Bonnell enough for the chance to work at Penn in her group. I learned to be a scientist there. 

1995-1997 Research Associate at Max-Planck-Institut fur Metallforschung (Stuttgart Germany).

If I learned to be a scientist at Penn, I found myself and my interests at MPI. It is this training that I most strongly identify with as a scientist today. I consider my work to be a direct line from Prof. Ruhle, Dr. Roth and the dozens of others at MPI that took the time to teach me. I still visit yearly to pay homage, and probably always will. It is the finest research institution that people have been able to achieve I believe and I was lucky to have been there for a short time.  

1997-2003 Assistant and Associate Prof Physics and Materials Science Clemson University (Clemson SC)…

I loved Clemson and built a wonderful lab there. I was tenured and promoted there, made many friends and grew as an academic. But as with many academic careers, there comes an opportunity and so it was time to move again.

2003 Associate Professor Wake Forest University (WS NC) 

I am from Winston-Salem and my family has had a long-standing relationship with WFU. We helped to move the University from Wake Forest NC to this city and have long supported its programs and schools. So when the chance came, it was obvious.

Today  Professor of Physics at Wake Forest University

I spend most of my time building the Nano and Quantum technologies Laboratory - a Research Center of WFU. I was also fortunate to be named Fellow of the American Physical Society and have received several awards and recognitions for research.