It was natural for me to work hard in school given my parents’ focus on education.  I did well in math and science and decided in my junior and senior years of high school to do a research project that ultimately resulted in me presenting (and winning some accolades) at Missouri, National, and International high-school science competitions.  I went on to earn my bachelor, masters, and doctoral geology degrees in Minnesota followed by four-years of postdoctoral studies in Switzerland.  I moved back to Missouri in 1996 when I accepted an academic position as geology professor at Saint Louis University.  Sixteen years later, in 2012, I chose to leave the University and accepted a research staff position with Shell International Exploration and Production company in Houston, Texas.  I worked at Shell for nine years before voluntarily retiring in 2021 after having moved back to St. Louis in 2019 and working remotely for two years.  

Professionally, I have published 25+ research articles and (co)presented 80+ talks at professional meetings, was awarded numerous federal grants for research and teaching, and served several years on a National Science Foundation panel that reviewed projects focused on teaching science to undergraduate students.  For most of my academic career I taught undergraduate and graduate courses, mentored many students, and took the lead in developing the Environmental Science and Studies program at Saint Louis University.  In my research, I investigated processes associated with the deformation of the Earth that resulted in the formation of mountain ranges and generation of earthquakes.  In industry, I provided scientific advice to business units in Shell who were making multi-billion dollar decisions in the Gulf of Mexico, conceived and executed a large field project in Albania (see presentation here), and worked on four large AI / machine-learning projects, two of which resulted in 2023 U.S. patents on AI/machine learning (patents are here and here).  I am grateful to have had a wonderful career as teacher, mentor, and researcher.

In contrast, my father grew up in a very poor rural home where his mother died when he was four and his father tried to raise his four children during the Great Depression of the 1930s.  As late as the 1960s my siblings and I still had to use the wood outhouse and outside water pump when we visited our grandfather.  My father barely graduated from high school, was drafted into the army during the Korean war, and used the GI bill to attend college after his service.  He was the first in his family to go to college where he eventually earned a bachelor’s and master’s degrees.  Both my mother and father worked in the St. Joseph public school system as teachers and principal until their retirements, a combined total of 50 years.  Their focus on education resulted in my siblings and I becoming a lawyer, a university professor equivalent of chemistry in Germany, a medical professor in Chicago, and me, a professor of geology.  My family exemplifies the life-changing impact high-quality public education in Missouri can have on families.  I believe the same can be true for residents of the Lindbergh school district.