I grew up in Alpena, Michigan before going to Florida State. I spent my last year of college at Hiroshima University in Japan. After that, I observed on California gillnet boats, Alaskan pot cod and cod and sablefish longliners. Then I worked for the IPHC halibut surveys. And finally I started grad school at Dalhousie University in Halifax with Ram Myers. I spent some time working on fishery interactions with stock abundance before starting to work on leatherback turtles. Since finishing up my Masters, I've been doing a few independent contracts relating to sea turtle telemetry.