As an undergraduate at Utah State, he taught accelerated courses in Spanish to pay his way through school. As a graduate student, he helped develop and instruct a new laboratory course at Utah. At Virginia Tech, he is a lab instructor. Blotter came to Virginia Tech to pursue his research interest. He is investigating the energy and power flow of vibrating structures.
Tech is one of two universities that has laser scanning capabilities to make the study possible.
The results of his research will benefit the area of structural dynamics. Gage is interested in the area of breeding and genetics, with a focus on quantitative animal genetics. She is also interested in molecular genetics. Her research goal is to improve animal production through her with dairy cattle. As an undergraduate at Michigan State University, Gage developed a linear scoring system for type traits in Arabian horses based on the system already used in dairy herds.