

My interest in fishes goes back to my youngest childhood in Arizona. I can't remember not having fishes in aquaria anywhere I have lived or worked, and I was a fishing junkie from about age 10 through my undergraduate days at Arizona State University (ASU), where I obtained my B.S. in Fisheries and Wildlife. From there I spent a couple years as a Peace Corps volunteer employed by Colombia's Natural Resources Agency, INDERENA, doing fisheries management-related fieldwork in the middle Río Magdalena basin. Then, off to England for a Masters in Applied Hydrobiology at University of London, and eventually back to ASU for a job, originally, but it transitioned into a Ph.D. program punctuated by various side projects that kept money coming in to help support the family. While those side projects provided publications and fun field work, in terms of long-term career impact the most significant distraction during my doctoral program was employment as the Native Fish Biologist for the State of Arizona (Arizona Game and Fish Department). Applying my skills in the management arena for several yeas was fun, as was all the fieldwork, but I longed to get back to the freedom of academia. I took the Curator job that I still have in 1990 and still love it.
More details about my research over the years can be found in these pages (see projects) and my publications.