After receiving an A.B. in physics from the University of Chicago, he studied nonlinear dynamics and chaos theory at the University of Maryland at College Park (PhD, 1996), as well as theoretical and experimental neuroscience at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA. His current work is funded by the NIH. In addition, he sang for many years with The Washington Chorus, is an amateur photographer, and twice finished in third place at the International Whistler’s Convention.