Biographical Sketch: The Outline

Places I've Lived

  • Two miles north of Cromwell, Iowa
  • Ames, Iowa
  • Storrs, Connecticut
  • Washington, D.C. Metropolitan area, including Arlington, Virginia and The People's Republic of Takoma Park (Maryland)
  • Pocahontas County, West Virginia

Jobs I've Had (see my on-line resume for details)

  • Newspaper proofreader, technical editor
  • Sorter of dead mosquitoes and ceratapogonid midges
  • Insect collection technician
  • Zoo-keeper's assistant
  • College instructor
  • Teacher of all subjects, for all ages, K-12 subject matter
  • Molecular geneticist
  • Bacteriologist
  • Bioinformatician

Subjects I've Taught

  • Introductory Biology for Biology Majors, labs and lectures
  • Entomology labs
  • Scanning Electron Microscopy
  • Adult Basic Education, including math from addition through algebra and reading and writing at every level
  • Chemistry for student nurses
  • Basic Statistics
  • Word Processing and Spread Sheets

Computer Experience

  • Fortran programming course, 1976: The joys of a public keypunch area
  • Life in Unix Big Iron Land, running Xedit and SAS
  • Exile to DOS and Apple OS's
  • The joys of GNU Unix on Sun workstations
  • Some unpleasant exposure to Microsoft Windows
  • A return to *nix Nirvana via OSX and Linux

Fiber Arts Interests and Experience

  • Sewing--garment construction, quilting
  • Knitting
  • Spinning wool yarn for knitters

Natural History Interests

  • Heteroptera, the True Bugs (accept no substitutes!)
  • The Burgess Shale
  • Trilobites
  • Mushrooms of West Virginia
  • Nature writing, particularly of Aldo Leopold, Loren Eiseley, Edwin Way Teale, Rachel Carson

Musical Interests and Obsessions

  • Baroque flute music
  • English concertina
  • Clawhammer banjo