I am a native of Cincinnati, Ohio. I played baseball and football at Florida State University and majored in Biology, then spent 2 years as a Lieutenant in the US Army (1970-1971). I then traveled around the world for a year and entered graduate school:
M.S. degree, U Miami, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences 1975
PhD degree, U Miami, RSMAS 1978
NATO Postdoctoral Fellow, Cambridge University 1981
I moved to the Marine Biomedical Institute, University of Texas Medical Branch, where I advanced through the academic ranks to full Professor and Chief of the Division of Biology and Marine Resources.
I spend a Sabbatical year in 1991 at the Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, and at Friday Harbor Laboratories, University of Washington.
In 1995 I moved to as Director of the Marine Resources Center. In 2003, I resigned that position and I am now a Senior Scientist concentrating exclusively on research.
I became interested in cephalopods when I encountered an octopus on a coral reef in Panama in 1968. Its body patterning and changing coloration intrigued me, and I am still working to understand its brain and behavior.