For the most part, that involves development of algorithms that increase the speed, power, and accuracy of sequence database homology search using profile hidden Markov models, and application of these methods topics motivated by biology, especially those involving transposable elements and regulatory elements. Travis earned his Bachelors in Evolutionary Biology from the University of Arizona in 1995. He spent several years in industry and academia as a telecom and web software developer, then earned a PhD in Computer Science in 2009, under the guidance of John Kececioglu and Mike Sanderson at the University of Arizona. He worked in Sean Eddy's group (HHMI Janelia Research Campus) as a postdoc and software engineer until 2014, when moved to his current position.