My path to teaching has been indirect. I graduated from Caltech in 1991 with a B.S. in Astronomy. I decided to try “the real world” for a few years and accepted a position at Microsoft Corporation in Redmond WA.

 

While at Microsoft, I worked as a program manager on the Windows NT development team. Back in 1992 my small team and I proposed a radical idea - wouldn’t it be cool if people could search their computers and networks for interesting files and data? That original search technology serves as the foundation for Microsoft’s desktop search.

 

In addition to search, I worked on file systems and storage technology for Windows NT. My team was responsible for all the code that make your disk drives work. I explained it to my mother like this - “Everything that happens after you press SAVE is my stuff”.

 

Almost ten years later, I decided I’d learned enough about computers, and wanted to get back to science, and especially, astronomy. I quit Microsoft and enrolled in the Professional Master's Program in Physics at the University of Washington in Seattle. While at the UW, I became interested in teaching, and found myself enrolling in the Masters in Teaching Program at Seattle Pacific University. Although I don’t recommend working on two masters degrees at two universities simultaneously, it all worked out in the end. In 2006 I received my MS in Physics, and in 2007 I received my MA in Teaching.

 

I completed my student teaching at Mount Rainier High School in June of 2007. While there, I heard about a certain science and technology school built around a theme of aviation and aerospace. It sounded cool. I then heard a rumor that they were looking for a math and science teacher.  And here I am.

 

When I’m not at RAHS, I enjoy spending lots of time with my wonderful wife and daughter.  In my spare time I write (but apparently don’t finish) science fiction novels, play geeky boardgames with my friends and do as much astrophotography as my time and weather permits. You can see some of my work on my Astrobin page.