He received his Ph.D. from University of Maryland-College Park in 2006 and was a postdoc at University of Delaware until 2008. His primary research focus is on magnetic reconnection in solar and space contexts using theoretical and numerical techniques. He won a 2008 Fred L. Scarf dissertation award from the Space Physics and Aeronomy (SPA) section of AGU, a 2015 AGU James B. Macelwane Medal, and is a Fellow of AGU. He has been a member of the SPA Advocacy Committee since 2014.