I was born in Louisville, KY and grew up among the rolling bluegrass hills of race horse country.  My mother was a school teacher and my father was a thoroughbred race horse trainer.  At an early age I was fascinated by science but equally enjoyed history, languages, and literature. 

I obtained my bachelor degrees in both physics and mathematics at the University of Louisville in 2008 on a full scholarship.   In 2010 I received masters degrees in both physics and astronomy from UW Madison. From 2010 to 2014 I spent half a year in Germany and a year in Brazil on research collaborations.  I received my PhD in 2014 under the supervision of Prof. Alex Lazarian and am now a postdoc at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.  Outside of my career as a scientist, I enjoy literature, playing piano, scuba diving, yoga/running, motorcycles and meditation. I speak Brazilian Portuguese and have a college minor in classical Latin.  

I am currently involved in a number of service positions for the astronomy community at Harvard and at large. Currently I am co-chair of the CfA seminar committee and co-chair of the ITC seminar committee at Harvard. I have been a SOC/LOC member of a number of international conferences. 

I believe student mentoring to be a critical aspect of my career as a research scientist. Since 2011 I have been actively involved in training the next generation of research scientists and increasing diversity in sciences.