I grew up in central Texas and went to high school in Comfort, Texas where I met my wife Melissa . I did my undergraduate studies at the University of Texas at Austin and majored in math and biology. I also took a fair number of physics classes as an undergraduate and finished only a few credits short of a third major in physics.
I first started graduate school in 2010 at the University of Michigan, but after completing my first year I took a leave of absence for military service. I returned to graduate school three years later and soon after returning I began work with my co-advisors Danny Forger and Victoria Booth.