I was born into a Mennonite community in northern New York. Our family owned a small egg farm and I spent the first eleven years of my life there. Following a family move to another part of the state, we eventually started attending a small community Presbyterian church. Following graduation from high school, I attended Eastern Mennonite University in Virginia, where I majored in Biology and Biochemistry. After toying with the idea of being a physician I decided I was really excited about research, particularly research that had a connection to agriculture. I went to graduate school at Cornell University (in the field of Biochemistry, Molecular, and Cell Biology) and conducted research on molecular aspects of plant hormone response. There I became deeply involved in the Cornell Graduate Christian Fellowship and grew significantly as a Christian as a result of my interactions with a wonderful group of fellow students and faculty. It was also at Cornell that I met my wife, Jamie. Following a brief sojourn to Ames, Iowa, I settled in Madison, Wisconsin with Jamie. I did post-doctoral research at Madison (studying selective protein degradation and light responses in plants), while Jamie completed her Ph.D. (in developmental genetics). We were then very fortunate to both obtain positions at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in the Biology Department, where we continue as faculty. Over the years I have attended a variety of churches, of different denominations (not uncommon for academics, with the frequent moves the career often produces). Thus I have experienced Christianity through a variety of perspectives and traditions (from Anabaptist, to Evangelical, to Mainline Protestant). My family and I currently attended a United Methodist church in Eau Claire, where we have found a community deeply committed to living out their faith in service to others. I also have an interest in the intersection between science and religious faith and have participated in several public forums related to those issues. I am always pleased to talk with students about this, as I know that those in the sciences who are religious often wrestle with how to integrate these two key components of their identities.