Science

I grew up and worked in Chicago to develop Shedd Aquarium’s teen mentorship program which provided experiential leadership programs for teens. These youth development programs fostered a sense of self, cultivated leadership + life skills training, and provided personal + collaborative opportunities with aquarium professionals from exhibit designers to veterinarians to dolphin trainers. I spent 8 years mentoring + coaching high schoolers while they lived aboard a research vessel in the Bahamas… snorkeling among the Caribbean fishes and immersing themselves in Bahamian culture. Students were able to bridge those experiences back to their everyday lives in Chicago. This approach to learning cemented my desire to provide students with an expanded view of school and a deeper awareness of the world that existed beyond classroom walls. After completing a MS degree from Northeastern University, I joined Beaver for 10 years as a Middle School science teacher and brought my passion for global conservation to the curriculum as well as a meaningful connection to how it relates to the students’ lives. Community engagement, experiential learning, and civic responsibility are at the core of the expanded learning approach that I bring to my work in the Hiatt Center (which I began in 2014) as well as to my Upper School science courses. I reside in Roslindale with my two children who also attend Beaver Middle School.

I grew up just outside of Albany, NY, but spent many summers with my family in the Adirondacks. I loved to be outside playing sports, swimming, hiking, biking, or just enjoying nature. As an athlete, I was always curious about how the body worked and what allowed humans to perform at their best. I opted to take as many science classes as possible in high school, even testing out of gym class to open up room for me to take an Anatomy and Physiology elective! For college, I attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to follow two of my passions: science and playing lacrosse! After receiving my B.S. in Biochemistry and Biophysics, I moved across the country to Salt Lake City, Utah to pursue a Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry at the University of Utah. My research there was focused on helping physicians better understand how inherited mutations in genes related to colorectal cancer development could be used to predict onset and severity of the disease. In collaboration with Myriad Genetics, a genetic testing company based in Salt Lake City, we developed a genetic screen for FAP (familial adenomatous coli), a type of colorectal cancer found in family lineages. It was during my Ph.D. that I had the opportunity to teach a chemistry course within the nursing program at the university, eventually accepting a position as a lecturer in the chemistry department. While I loved to teach, I didn’t love the impersonal nature of teaching in lecture halls with hundreds of students! I left teaching to accept a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University but missed it so much that I returned to the profession a few years later, first teaching at the Waterford School in Salt Lake City, and eventually at Beaver, where I joined the science department in 2013. When I’m not teaching chemistry or biology, I enjoy coaching and pursuing outdoor activities with my family. I’m also an avid runner (both road and trail), even running my first marathon at the Boston Marathon in 2017!

I have over 16 yeas of experience teaching biology, project based learning, and entrepreneurship in both formal and informal settings.  My love for biology led me to study entomology and sustainable agriculture at McGill University where I concentrated on insect eating populations of the Peruvian rain forest.  After graduating, I taught high school sciences in Northern California at an outdoor experiential school and studied at the Teachers’ Institute at The Exploratorium in San Francisco. After getting my Masters in Teaching from BU, I worked at the BU School of Medicine’s CityLab where I taught biotechnology labs and developed curriculum at the state and national level. In addition, I spent two years working with the Art/Science Prize Boston, an after school entrepreneurship competition helping teams of students trying to solve real world problems with innovative tech solutions.

I grew up in Dedham and was essentially home-schooled until I came to Beaver in high school. My family had started a school when my oldest brother and oldest cousin were old enough for kindergarten. There were about twenty students from my family, siblings, and cousins, as well as family friends. Until I came to Beaver, my teachers were: my mother (a Beaver alum), my aunt, my grandmother, and a couple of other mothers of some of the other students.

As a Beaver student, I played soccer, basketball, baseball, and lacrosse, and I also swam for my town team. In college, I played lacrosse and swam. I’d always enjoyed math and science as well as helping people, and I majored in psychology, minored in chemistry, and was pre-med. After graduating from Wheaton in 1994, I got my EMT license and worked for an ambulance company for about three years. I came back to Beaver in 1997 to teach math and science and coach soccer, basketball, and lacrosse. After three years, I took a year off to get my master’s degree in education at Harvard. My wife was in grad school in Atlanta, so I taught math and science and coached lacrosse at The Lovett School there for two years while she finished her program. We came back to Boston, and I resumed teaching and coaching at Beaver in 2003. I am in the Science Department and mainly teach chemistry and investing. I am also a coach for the golf team in the fall and the boys’ lacrosse team in the spring. I enjoy being well-connected to Beaver alums and work with the Philanthropy & Engagement Department on their alumni-related events. During the summer, I work at the pool for Beaver Summer Programs, where I have lifeguarded and taught swimming lessons since the summer of 1990. My wife, Rekha, and I have two daughters, Aiya and Macy that attend Beaver.