About

My family are immigrants whose story has been shaped by World War Two. My mother’s family were Irish and English and my grandfather served in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia during the War. My father’s family is Polish, his parents met during the war when they were forced laborers in Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp in Germany. After the war in 1945, my father was born in the camp. In 1950, they secured passage as refugees to Australia, which was to become their new home.

I was born in Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, but grew up on the fleurieu peninsula of South Australia and in the capital city Adelaide. Always seeking adventure, I spent my formative years surfing, hiking or riding mountain bikes, which I raced as an amateur between 1994-1999.

In March 1999, my desire to see and explore the world led me to strike out on my own. Initially, I spent three months traveling overland from Cape Town in South Africa to Nairobi in Kenya, before heading to Europe for four months. After a brief stint working in London and a quick sojourn to the United States, Canada and Mexico in the first month of the new millennium, I returned to Australia and bought a one way ticket back to London, where I worked in investment banking for almost three years.

In September 2001, I flew from London to Athens, Greece, and rode out of the airport on my bicycle with the goal of riding all the way to Cairo, Egypt. From mainland Greece, I rode through Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and the Sinai Peninsula. Three months and 6,500 kilometers later I cycled along the banks of the Nile river in Cairo. My world view had been shaped by many experiences, during a time where events in New York City directed significant attention on the region.

After my transformative adventure in the Middle East, I returned to Australia and began studying geography at Macquarie University in Sydney. Working as a business consultant I would juggle classes and assignments with work trips to Hong Kong and Singapore. During my undergraduate degree, I studied abroad at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington for one year. After completing my degree I went on a mountaineering expedition to Nepal and explored South East Asia.

I returned to Sydney and began my first foray into research, completing my honors degree in February 2007. In 2008, I was accepted into the Masters Program in the Department of Geography at the University of Oregon and couldn’t have been happier to move back to the Pacific Northwest of the United States.

Between 2008-2010, I completed a Masters degree in geography at the University of Oregon. My research examined the first institutionalized migration program between the United States and Tibetan Government in Exile. As a geographer, I analyzed the spatial distribution of Tibetans migrating to the United States to determine if settlement patterns reflected existing regional or religious distinctions. I also investigated how various spaces (such as cultural centers) shaped the ways Tibetans in the United States retain elements of their essentialized culture, such as language, while promoting a particular national identity.

Between 2010-2016, I completed a doctorate in Geography at the University or Oregon. My research investigated a range of phenomena driven by small hydropower development in the Nu River valley of Yunnan Province, along with broader interests in the ways transboundary energy development shapes geopolitical configurations and international relations.

I currently live in San Marcos, Texas, with my wife and daughters. Our wonderful dogs, Bruce (on the right) was part of our family for ten years and Winnie (left) for seven. We miss them both every single day.