I am an associate professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Washington and a member of the External Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute. I have been in Seattle since 2001, when I joined the department as an assistant professor.

I received my bachelor's degree from Harvard University in 1993, with a major in biology and focus on evolution and animal behavior. While there, I was fortunate to have the chance to work with Naomi Pierce, on the evolution of cooperation, and with David Haig, on population genetic models of meiotic drive.

I went to graduate school in Biological Sciences at Stanford University and received my Ph.D. in 1998. My graduate advisor was Marc Feldman; my graduate work addressed the game theory of communication and the role of stochasticity in evolutionary processes. After leaving Stanford, I did two years of postdoctoral work at Emory University. My principal supervisor was Bruce Levin, who introduced me to the world of bacterial ecology and evolution. While there, I also had the chance to collaborate with Marc Lipsitch, on the ecology of hospital-acquired infection, and with Rustom Antia, on the evolution of the vertebrate immune response.

I owe a particular debt of gratitude to the two great scientists pictured above: Marc Feldman (right) and Bruce Levin (left). They have been excellent mentors as well as great researchers; together they have influenced nearly every aspect of my professional career, from my areas of research interest, to my style of mathematical modeling, to (some might even claim) my preferred hairstyle.

When I am not working I like to be outside, working with my bonsai trees, kiteboarding, hiking, or simply spending time with my wife Holly and playing with my childeren Helen and Teddy.