The first 18 years of my life were spent in
Windsor, Ontario.
Most of this time was spent
playing musical instruments, the rest was devoted to avoiding being in class. I decided in
grade 12 that I would go to university to play trumpet. Then I got my wisdom teeth pulled
out. With that went all feeling in my lower lip. So much for the trumpet thing.
Now in grade 13 (back when there was grade 13), I was already determined to go to university
with my friends. Not much for reading through long books, I opened the undergraduate calendar
and chose the first thing that interested me. Astronomy. Sounded neat.
Touring a grand total of three universities, I made my decision to go to
University of Western Ontario
based on the fact that they had two on-campus observatories. It still amazes me how
little guidance we give to students when they are making these important decisions. There
could be no worse metric upon which to base a
decision. Luckily, the experience turned out to be a positive one. I met my future wife, and
learned a lot about how to learn. In 1993, I graduated with a B.Sc. in Honours Astronomy.
During my undergraduate degree, I had the opportunity to work on research over the summers.
This research exposed me to the work of
David Guenther,
a man who my undergraduate research
advisor respected greatly. When I heard that David Guenther was going to be taking a faculty
position at
St. Mary's University,
I immediately applied to do my M.Sc. in Astronomy there.
Unfortunately, my future wife was going to
Yale University
in Connecticut to do her graduate work.
In 1995, I moved to
New Haven, Connecticut
to be with my now fiancee. I enjoyed my work at St. Mary's
University, but wanted to do something that I felt would help mankind on a shorter timescale
than studying
nonlinear pulsations of stars
in
open clusters.
I took a position as a
research associate at
Advanced Fuel Research,
a small R&D company in
East Hartford,
Connecticut. The company was developing
Fourier Transform Infra Red spectrometers
for use in continuous emission monitoring, as well as a technique to use
x-ray spectroscopy
to characterise the chemical matrix of soils contaminated with heavy metals. In other words, the
company was developing technologies to clean up the environment. It was a very positive
experience, and it was the place where I learned the majority of my instrumentation skills,
especially
LabView
programming.
But, after the birth of my daughter in
1999, I decided that the appropriate thing for a father to do was to get the highest paying
job he can. I had clearly been living in the
U.S.A.
for too long. Many telecommunications
companies in the area were excitedly trying to hire me, only to be blocked by Immigration.
After my family was violently turned back by American immigration officials at the
Detroit-Windsor border for having an incorrect word on my job offer letter, we decided that
life in the United Kingdom would be a change for the better.
It was. In 2001, my wife, my daughter and I moved to lovely
Leicester, England. My wife
worked at the
University of Leicester,
and I worked at
Ericsson Telecommunications in the
software R&D group. We developed software for the internet backbone switches that this very
connection might be using. It was a terrific experience. Great, warm people. A beautiful
city with a thriving downtown. We were looking at buying a house when my wife was offered
a permanent position at
McMaster University. Just hours away from all of our extended family.
In 2002, after only 7 months of living in England, we moved to Hamilton. Refusing to be part
of the parking lot known as "commuting to Toronto for a good job", I started
Intelliscience Instrumentation, Inc. and began to do contract
development of scientific instrumentation. At the same time, McMaster University
was looking for someone to teach a section of their
introductory
physics course, Physics 1B03. These courses are small sections where you could get to know
your students by name, and even get a chance to talk to them about life. It sounded like
it would be a great experience. It was, and my students thought so too. My student
evaluations were excellent, and this made the Chair of the Department
of Physics and Astronomy think that keeping me
around would be a good idea. So now I am a faculty member charged with developing tools and
techniques for increasing student interest in first-year physics.
In my after-hours time, I am either playing with my two daughters, providing consulting services, playing hockey or playing with my cover band "Skirmish" in bars.
If you want to come out and see us play, join our Facebook group or check out our web site!