I was born and raised in the historically science-center town of Los Alamos, NM, which turns out to be the weirdest place someone could possibly grow up. But we don't have to get into that. 18 years later I went to Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA where I was surrounded by wheat fields, wineries, and the best people. Whitman's liberal arts education fit my style of indecision and interdisciplinary learning well, but eventually I was still forced to chose a major (apparently that's pretty common for colleges to do). My parents are physicists, and my older sister a biologist, so naturally, I chose chemistry to complete the family's science trifecta.

 

I now live in Golden, Colorado and spend most of time working on biofuel chemistry research at the National Renewable Energy Lab, teaching rock climbing classes at Movement Gym, breathing as much outdoor air as possible (turns out it's actually easier when you're in bad running shape), and serving my time in the daunting mid-20s "What am I going to do with my life?!" phase.