Dwayne Simmons

From High School geek to neuroscientist I was a High School geek! In high school, we had an intelligensia group of self-declared intellectuals (geeks). We all played chess. We all wore our calculators on our belts. We read everything possible. It was explosive. It was in my senior year of high school, that many of my friends declared themselves atheists or agnostics. However, I remained a committed Christian. I pondered why, but I never really questioned the rationality of my faith. I became a college nerd. We were the future scientists and practitioners. We were smart and played games to see who could get the lowest possible ‘A’ grade in a class. Socks were for boring people. Lab coats were in. One of the most important periods of my life was my college freshman year. I was dead set on becoming a scientist and therefore I had to question everything. One thing that I had never seriously questioned was my faith. Two inescapable conclusions from my freshman year: 1) you can neither prove or disprove the existence of God, and 2) the substance of my Christianity rested on whether or not I believed that Jesus Christ is who he claims to be! In graduate school I was a hermit. Graduate school was amazing. I was surrounded by all of these really really smart people. It was my second year in graduate school that I was tempted by my research professors to choose between my faith and my success as a scientist. They asked me put my religious commitments aside until after I finished my PhD. However, I remained steadfast, chose both and feel that I won! I am a neuroscientist, professor and Christian! As a neuroscientist, I am keenly aware of precision, design, and universal order. Although randomness and chance seem to be everywhere, there are no accidental occurrences in nature, everything has a purpose, every action has a consequence, and all nature appears to follow a basic set of universal rules. My job as a scientist is simply to discover how nature works. People ask me how can I be a scientist and also be a devout Christian. My response is that nature is too ordered, too precise, and simply too amazing not to believe in a God. However, I worship the God of the Bible because of his singular revelation in Jesus Christ and because of his amazing revelation through nature.  

My Life

Favorite Quote

In the beginning was the Word . . . Soli Deo Gloria!

My hobbies

Classical Music, Bible Study, Christian Apologetics, Church History, Church Administration, Biking, Camping, Computers, Fitness, Hiking, Poetry, Preaching, Reading, Skiing, Tennis, Travel.

Fantasy dinner guests

Pascal; Galileo; Descartes; Cajal; Helmholtz

Best advice I ever received

It is okay to be different!

My undergrad alma mater

Pepperdine University.

My worst subject in school

foreign languages.

In college I drove

a 1979 Chevrolet K-5 Blazer.

If I weren't a professor, I would

be an investment banker or preacher.

Favorite movies

ET; The Mission; Blade Runner; Star Wars 4; Shadow Lands.

Favorite city

Boston and Paris

Favorite coffee

I do not drink the stuff.

Nobody knows I

and Nobody is not telling.

My latest accomplishment

Fullbright Scholar Award to the University of Sheffield.