Dan received his B.S. degree in Biochemistry in 1996 and his M.S. degree in Forestry in 1999, both from North Carolina State University. He received his Ph.D. in Plant Physiological Ecology from Wake Forest University in 2006. Dan''s research interests include drought and climate change, plant physiological ecology and plant functional anatomy. Recently, Dan has been working with a team of scientists from around the world studying how plants react to stress such as drought using x-ray technology and other methods to see the inner workings of the plants.