I'm kind of a geek. Prototypically nerdy. On occasion, even kind of a dork. I wear thick glasses because I need them to see, not because they are some sort of fashion statement. I am lucky enough to work as a scientist, because science is the natural way I approach the world--make a hypothesis, design an experiment to test it, and give it a try!

I love my family, though I live a little too far away from them (about a 5 hour drive) than I would like. I have seven little nieces and nephews and try hard to be as awesome an uncle as I can. I was born and raised Methodist, it was and is a wonderful influence on my life, and I still go to church weekly. That having been said, I am a firm believer that everyone has their own lives and everyone should be allowed to believe what they want without having their arms twisted. That goes double for my political beliefs.

I like to sing. I sang in a national touring choir in college, and I today I still sing in the church choir, and in the shower, and in my car, and pretty much everywhere, actually. I enjoy hiking and camping, and I live for city league softball in the summer. I like to visit different cities and keep score at major league baseball games. I am nervous and sometimes don't know what to say when I meet new people, but I think I have interesting things to say once you get to know me.

I'm a bioinformatics and structural biology researcher at the University of Virginia. I got my Ph.D. in Biophysics about five years ago. In practical terms, this means I spend most of my day sitting in front of a computer, but from time to time I get to zap things with high-energy X-rays.

Singing. Table tennis. Impressions of Kermit the Frog and Rowlf the Dog.

I'm a big guy (6'2"). I'm almost always wearing jeans and running shoes. I make funny faces a lot.

I am a voracious reader, and I practically inhale books with my Kindle. I always have one fiction and one non-fiction book I'm working on. On the non-fiction side, I like popular science books, especially in fields outside my own like psychology and economics, and history books (e.g. pretty much everything David McCullough has written). On the fiction side, I read a lot of science fiction and classics (I just finished a compendium of Sherlock Holmes stories). I also read a few comic books like the Walking Dead.

Favorite movies: the Shawshank Redemption, the Lord of the Rings, the original Star Wars trilogy (and Episode III wasn't too bad), the Matrix, most of the Monty Python films, pretty much everything made by Joss Whedon.

Favorite TV shows: Doctor Who, Castle, Big Bang Theory, NCIS, Sherlock (the BBC one), Modern Family, Game of Thrones, Walking Dead, How I Met Your Mother and Family Guy (though the last two are getting old). Pretty much everything made by Joss Whedon.

Music: Most bands with upbeat music and mandolin and/or violin players: Nickel Creek, Mumford and Sons, any band by any living member of the Grateful Dead. Nerd rock: They Might be Giants, Barenaked Ladies. Quirky singer-songwriters: Ingrid Michaelson, Regina Spektor.

Food: I am admittedly not much of a foodie: I am more of a burger and beer kind of guy, though I do like Thai, Italian and Mexican. I do like to cook, though I do it less than I should.

Family. Friends. My laptop. Running shoes. Label maker. Diet Mountain Dew.

How stuff works. If I took that thing apart, how and if I could put it back together.

If I'm not traveling to visit family or for work, I like to watch movies or hang out with friends.

I've written several fiction stories and I'm thinking about writing a novel.

you got to the end of this, and you don't mind a little bit of dorkiness-- or perhaps you are a little bit yourself!