Background: I was born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. I almost became an undergraduate at CWRU, but Case seemed too much an engineering school at the time, and I got a better scholarship to go to school closer to home at Washington University in St. Louis .

I began college in the engineering school and finished in math and geology while working some summers as a computer programmer and some loading airplanes for Delta Airlines at O'hare airport.

I went to graduate school in geology at Yale University and did my Ph.D. work on the invertebrate benthos (that's bottom-dwelling animals) in mud and sand sediments in Long Island Sound.

After coming to Cleveland - and after i received tenure here in Geology -I did a law degree at Cleveland-Marshall School of Law and passed the Ohio bar.

Interests/Activities: I have a joint appointment in the Departments of Geology and Biology and teach courses in each department, among them evolutionary biology, paleontology, invertebrate ecology, historical geology and environmental law. I direct our Environmental Studies Program and teach courses in that also. I used to direct the Center for the Environment at CWRU. I formed and led the group of faculty that gave CSP its initial structure and got it approved by the College, and I have been its first director. My research when I can get to it focuses on the ecology of marine and freshwater invertebrates that live at the bottom of lakes and oceans and how they affect the properties of the sediment they live in. Its biology, chemistry, geology and physics all interacting near an important interface. It's important because sediments can be a big source or sink of nutrients and pollutants to the overlying water, and because this is the ecosystem most easily and often preserved in sedimentary rocks. I figure I have spent over a thousand hours underwater.

I love learning and teaching and I also love radio. I am happy to be the station director at WRUW-FM, 91.1. I also do a radio show there, Wednesday 10pm- midnite. I used to play reggae and world music a lot, and now i do a show featuring live recordings of improvisational rock bands. I most like the live shows, and my favorite band is Phish. A lot of my free time is spent going to and recording their concerts and other music festivals.I also enjoy traveling and hiking and backpacking. I read a lot for enjoyment and to satisfy curiousity, often a book a week. I live with four cats and a dog, Schwilly, who sits in on most of my classes, where he mostly sleeps.

Comments: Artists are cool people. So are Phish kids. You should meet both. I have wide academic interests and I love hanging out with people of varying interests and talents. Much of true learning is multidisciplinary. Even if you don't join our program, come to the public talks that our visiting speakers give, because usually they are good and you can learn so much from people of accomplishment.