He received a B.S. in Geology from the College of William and Mary and an M.S. in Quaternary Studies from the University of Maine, and he was a James B. Duke Doctoral Fellow at Duke University where he received a Ph.D. in Geology. Dr. Young serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Coastal Research and Environmental Geosciences. He is currently the Technical Program Director for the Geological Society of America's Annual Meeting. Dr. Young's research interests lie in a wide variety of coastal and wetland areas.