Following a Ph.D. in condensed matter physics at the University of Durham (1998), and a postdoctoral appointment in condensed matter physics at the University of California, San Diego, (1998–2001), he joined the materials science faculty at the University of Minnesota, where he currently holds an endowed chair and is a McKnight Presidential Fellow. His research interests lie primarily in the field of magnetism, currently in complex oxides, highly spin-polarized ferromagnets, spin transport, and magnetic nanostructures and interfaces.