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A native of Richfield, Ohio, he has an undergraduate degree in environmental science from Westminster College in Pennsylvania. He earned a master's degree in engineering and a Ph.D. in zoology from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Since joining the Drake faculty in 2002, he has tackled a number of research projects on Iowa ecosystems. He's studied the prairie moths that pollinate environmentally-threatened western fringed prairie orchid in central Iowa, and reptiles in Polk County's Chichaqua Bottoms Greenbelt and the Sandhill Prairie. He also received a USDA Managed Ecosystems Program grant to research restoration of prairie insect biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. In 2005, he joined the Iowa Audubon Society board of directors and has developed plans for its Iowa Important Bird Areas. He also advises the Chichaqua Greenbelt advisory committee as they critique and revise a 10-year master plan for prairie and wetland restorations. He is a member of the Des Moines Urban Conservation Advisory Board and Polk County Conservation Advisory Board. |
