He received his undergraduate education at Harvey Mudd College and completed his Ph.D. at Rice University in 1998 under the direction of Randy Hulet. He held a NRC postdoctoral fellowship with David Wineland at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder before joining the University of Virginia in 2001. His current research focuses on the development of atom interferometers using Bose-Einstein condensates and their application to measurements of inertial forces and atomic properties. He is also a participant in the upcoming Cold Atom Laboratory mission on the International Space Station.