I'm was born and raised in Grand Rapids, MI, and became interested in extreme weather at a very young age. I graduated with a Bachelors Degree in meteorology in 2002, Masters in 2005, and am currently working towards my PhD in meteorology at the University of Oklahoma. My research interests lie mainly in the field of applied climatology, focusing on energy consumption/temperature connections, and minimizing weather-related risk in the agribusiness sector. I'm a profesional storm chaser and I sell close-up images to the press and take tourists on tornado-trails. I also founded the site Tornadovideos.net. Additional interests include oboe performance, weight-lifting, basketball, golf, and hockey. I will chase storms until the day he dies!