I was born in Torrance, CA but at the ripe young age of...a few months old...my family moved to Flagstaff, Arizona. It's a small mountain and college town (home to NAU) that was a great town grow up in, with snowy winters and mild summers set to the backdrop of aspen and ponderosa pine tree forests that explode with color in the fall. Flag is a small "everybody knows everybody" kind of town, and I'm grateful to still be in close contact with many of my friends I grew up with.

In 2006 I graduated from Flagstaff High School and began as an undergraduate at the University of Arizona. My studies began in the Applied Mathematics program, and I ultimately graduated Cum Laude in 2011 with a BS in Engineering Mathematics.

After college I took some time off, and after a small stint in Los Angeles (I have an IMDB page to show for it!), I moved to Portland, Oregon in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. I started my professional career here as an Engineer at Daimler Trucks North America, working in both electrical and mechanical engineering disciplines for Freightliner and Western Star product lines.

I moved back to Tucson in 2018, and today I am back at the University of Arizona pursuing my MS in the Statistics and Data Science Graduate Interdisciplinary Program (GIDP).

In my own time I really enjoy...

Music

Most of the credit for my musicianship goes to my Dad, who played piano around me growing up...I sincerely believe that it helped program my musical ear. When I was about 7 he gifted me a guitar, and the rest is history...I have since played for 21 years.

Since high school I have regularly played in groups; when I was in undergrad, I was in a group which released an album in 2010. Most recently, I play in a local Tucson group Never On Time.

Inspired by Dad's playing, I picked up piano about two years ago, which has been an absolute blast and has really changed the way I think about playing and composing music.

I also do a fair amount recording in my home studio, and hope to release some music soon. This summer I have been creating some ambient/meditative tracks, and I will post a link somewhere on this site once I get them released (as well as anything else I eventually put out there).

Photography

My Mom is a longtime photographer and this time she gets the credit for getting me into photography. It's fun to look around you and find compositions in unexpected places, and I have really gotten a lot of enjoyment over the years of just pointing and shooting whenever/wherever I can.

She has also let me use her old equipment! Her Minolta SRT-101 and X100 film cameras have been especially fun hand-me-downs to play around with. In an age of point-and-shoot digital photography with your cell phone, shooting film has been especially fun...being forced to be thoughtful, deliberate, and purposeful with your shots is important when you're shooting film, and it has helped me to approach other facets of my life in the same ways.

Kayaking, River Life, and the Outdoors

Having grown up in an outdoorsy town, I am naturally inclined to enjoy being outside. I of course enjoy a good hike or a camping adventure, but my favorite outdoor activities are whitewater kayaking and just being on the river. River life is the best combo of all things outdoors, and there is truly nothing that compares to the peaceful isolation of floating down a river for several days at a time.

My Dad got me into kayaking when I was a teenager (he's a solid boater himself 😉), and since then I have been hooked. I've been truly lucky to have such a unique activity that I get to do with him and we try and get a trip in any summer that we can.

Over the years we have run the Rogue River in Oregon, the Middle Fork and Main Salmon Rivers in northern Idaho, and a truly unforgettable and classic trip down the Grand Canyon from Lee's Ferry to Diamond Creek. I can't reccomend getting out on a river trip enough!

My Cat Mija

I have a wonderful little Bombay cat named 🐈‍⬛Mija🐈‍⬛.

She's about five years old and a delight to have around. Well, really I live in her house as she sees it 🤷‍♂️.

Growing up, my grandmother (a first generation American from Mexico) would of course call all of the grandkids Mijo and Mija (nothing unusual there). Mija will always remind me of her and just like it means, she's my little girl.

Sports

If you perused my academic work samples, you probably noticed that I like basketball. I love all kinds of sports, but basketball is my favorite sport by a country mile. I especially love college basketball, and the University of Arizona Men's Basketball team is (of course) my favorite team.

I live within walking distance of UA campus, so it's just a hop skip and a jump to get to a game. Can't complain! I've been to all kinds of sports venues and I can still confidently say that McKale is the best arena on earth! (Obviously no bias here).

Tucson & University of Arizona

It's now been about a decade total that I have lived in Tucson, so it feels right to call this place home. Having been all over the world, there is still nowhere else that really compares. The Sonoran Desert is such unique territory, and it's truly a special place to live (even though it can get HOT).

Coming back to Tucson and getting to attend grad school at my alma mater has been both extremely rewarding and excessively nostalgic, but no matter what I will always be proud to be a Wildcat.

🐻🔻Oh yeah, and BEAR DOWN!!🐻🔽