He received his B.A. in Political Science from Hamline University in Minnesota and Ph.D. in Environmental and Ecological Anthropology from the University of Georgia. His research interests generally concern how people work together. More specifically, he has examined collective action or cooperation in exchange, rural production, adaptation to extreme events, wellbeing in vulnerable populations, and how non-scientists engage science. Most of this work has involved social network analysis to understand how individuals or groups interact. In order to support theoretical and analytical needs of his work, he also has been involved in software innovation for social network applications.