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My Background
Undergraduate
Postgraduate
PhD program
Postdoctoral career
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After graduating in 1983, I went to the UM Biological Station in Pellston, Michigan, to take a course in insect ecology. In 1983, I did a year of graduate school the Department of Entomology at the University of California, Berkeley, after which I took a couple of years off school to work and travel. In 1986, I did an internship at the Land Institute in Salina Kansas which further expanded my interest in agroecology. I went to back to graduate school in 1987 at Miami University to get a Master's degree in Zoology with Dr. Gary Barrett. My thesis examined the influence of intecropping on insect movement in crop fields. During my studies I started to realize that I could not fully understand agriculture systems without a better understanding of soils and soils fertility. I became drawn to ecosystem ecology, which focuses on the flux of materials, nutrients and energy through ecosystems.  In researching graduate programs for my PhD I discovered programs in soil ecology that blended by interests in entomology, soils and agriculture.