He is an experimental physicist focusing on nanoscale magnetic materials and related devices. He served as Director of the University of South Florida's APS Bridge Site, which was created by the American Physical Society in 2013. He graduated summa cum laude from Wittenberg University in 1999 with University and Physics Departmental Honors, where he was also elected to FBK. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 2003, earning the Physics Department's Best Dissertation Award for work combining Magnetic Resonance Imaging with Scanning Probe Microscopy. His post-doctoral work at the University of California, San Diego, focused on spintronics. He is recipient of the prestigious NSF-CAREER and AFOSR-Young Investigator Awards.