He received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry in 1985 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison under S.F. Nelson. His post-doctoral work was done with J.K. Kochi at the University of Houston and J.A. Berson at Yale University. In 1988, he joined the faculty at Vanderbilt University before moving to the University of Alabama in 1996. His research focus is on organic electron transfer chemistry, including the development of (1) new electron transfer mediated organic reactions, (2) redox-switchable organic magnetic materials, (3) new organic media for molecular scale information storage, and (4) electron donor-acceptor bonding paradigms for application on supramolecular chemistry and crystal engineering. He is the author of more than 50 publications.