I am a bit of an academic wanderer. I have previously studied subjects as wide-ranging as psychology, business, and physics. But my primary interest has always been studying people, which led me to sociology for graduate studies. My main areas of study are criminology and deviance, sociology of drugs, green criminology, and media studies. Specific topics of interest to me are deviant sub-cultures, cannabis policy issues, use of psychedelics in psychological treatment,  risk perception, media, and audience analysis, qualitative methods, and Symbolic Interactionism.

I am originally from the small town of Chimacum out on Washington State's Olympic Peninsula. Washington State University was my first stop after leaving my little community. I ended up spending 10 years in Pullman Washington and left in 2006 with bachelor's degrees in Psychology and Business Administration, and an MBA. I then moved to Las Vegas where I met Samantha, the amazing women I decided I wanted to spend my life with, and subsequently married. After several years in the desert, I got the itch to return to school to peruse my goal of a Ph.D. I attended Utah State in Logan UT for my master's degree in Sociology, focusing on unconventional oil and gas development in south Texas. I moved to Fort Collins in the summer of 2012 to attend CSU for my Ph.D., and couldn't be happier with my choice. In 2018 my wife and I welcomed our first child, Reed. Fatherhood has changed the way I understand and view the world in ways I never could have imagined, and it has brought the importance I place on having a sociological understanding of the world to a whole new level. My personal interests/hobbies include motorcycles, hiking, photography, and of course spending time with my wife, son, and dogs.