I am not a data-driven or mechanical type of person, so more than anything, I like interacting with people. I’ve worked at Princeton since 2000, and the circumstances of my arrival were not happy. My wife had just died of cancer. My son was 11 years old. At the time, I was the supervisor for emergency mental health services for Mercer County and was called into work at all hours of the day. I needed some stability and a structured routine for my son. Twenty years later, I am still here, working now as the program manager for the Center for Policy Research on Energy and the Environment. 

I am intrigued by the way the universe is put together and what all that means — the environment, our physical surroundings, the environment beyond just Earth, but also how individuals function amongst each other. I love to make lunches for my colleagues to foster community. There’s a theory of deliciousness, based in brain theory, that I follow in my recipes. If you eat something and you're not quite sure what it is, you're intrigued. When you design a food experience for someone, the trick is to layer a series of flavors so that each one of them is never quite completed as the mind moves from one to the next. As you taste the different flavors, your brain doesn't quite know what the combination is, and you end up saying, ‘that's delicious!’ Whether it’s sharing a meal or working to guide someone through a life crisis or supporting the spirit of research here at C-PREE, I try to remember that we are all connected to each other and to the universe as a whole. As you’re doing you, the universe is doing itself too. We channel a common connection to everything that is. And that’s what can ground people, connect them to each other, and free them to their best selves.