Dr. Karau received his PhD in Modern European History from Florida State University in 2000. He joined the UW Colleges at UW Fox Valley in 2001. After serving at both UW Washington County and UW Fond du Lac he joined the faculty at UW Sheboygan in 2008. His first book, which was an examination of the German efforts to organize submarine and torpedo boat operations in Belgium during the First World War was published in 2003. It was very well reviewed and has since been reissued in paperback. This work, examining the larger question of why Germany lost a war that it seemed to be winning, was inspired by interactions with his students in his courses on the First World War and Twentieth Century European History. He is now beginning work on a third book, one that will tell the story of a pivotal naval battle from the First World War, The Battle of the Heligoland Bight.