Originally hailing from the small town of Caneyville in south-central Kentucky, he earned his undergraduate degree in chemistry from Centre College in 1999. While there, he also competed as a four-year member of the men’s tennis team. After graduating from Centre, Tyler began his work in inorganic chemistry investigating the spectroscopy, photophysics, and photochemistry of platinum(II) diimine complexes with Professor Bill Connick at the University of Cincinnati. He completed his doctoral dissertation, entitled "Synthesis, Structure and Spectroscopy of Platinum(II) Diimine Complexes With Potentially Facially-Coordinating Ligands," in the summer of 2005.