I was born in Mobile, AL, but lived in Greensboro, FL from 6 months to 7 years of age, and then in Pensacola, FL till I went to graduate school. I graduated from Escambia High School in 1975, from PJC in 1976, and from the University of West Florida in 1978 (all in or around Pensacola, FL). I lived in Boston, MA from 1978 till 1982 while I was a graduate student at MIT, and then in Carrboro, NC from 1982 till 1984 while I was a post-doctoral research associate in the Chemistry Department at UNC-Chapel Hill. I married Emma Wilhelmina Goldman on June 2, 1982 (probably the best thing I have ever done). In 1984 after completing my post-doctoral research, my wife and I spent the month of July bicycling around Switzerland and Holland before moving to Richmond, VA in August of 1984. From August 1984 till August 1986 I was a faculty member at the University of Virginia. In August 1986 I moved to the University of Richmond. In 1988 I became an Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics in the Medical College of Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth University. For four months during the summer of 1993 I was a Visiting Research Scientist with Prof. Cliff Kubiak at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN. During 1996-1997, I spent a year-long research sabbatical as a Visiting Research Scientist with Prof. David Wemmer at LBL and the Department of Chemistry, University of California-Berkeley in Berkeley, CA. During 2004-2005 I spend a year-long research sabbatical as a Faculty Fellow in Chemistry at Princeton University in Princeton, NJ, and as a Visiting Scientist in Chemistry at UNC in Chapel Hill, NC. In 2006 I became an Adjunct Professor of Chemical Engineering in the Chemical & Life Sciences Engineering Department at Virginia Commonwealth University, spending part of my time from 2006-2008 helping direct an NASA funded research project (collaboration with Prof. Kenneth Wynne’s laboratory) on fuel cell catalyst and battery membrane development. During the Spring and Summer of 2009 I made a strategic shift to focus my research more exclusively on the “ Energy Problem ” -a problem which I am absolutely convinced will be THE MOST IMPORTANT PROBLEM facing society during this century. To try to impact this problem, I have established significant research collaborations with groups a Princeton University, NASA, and CalTech. If you are interested in what this problem entails and what I am trying to do in my research to address it, please ASK!!
I have had a strong connection with Habitat For Humanity since 1982 and have helped start two Habitat Affiliates. I was a member of the founding board of directors for both the Orange County HFH in Chapel Hill/Carrboro, NC (1983, 13th Habitat Affiliate in the country) and the Richmond Metropolitan HFH (1986). I served on the board of directors and as a member and/or chair of several committees for Richmond Metropolitan HFH from 1986-1996. The University of Richmond community has a long-standing and strong partnership relationship with Richmond Metropolitan HFH, and I continue to participate through this.