I joined the JSC staff in 1997 as the Executive Secretary (think of it as "technical director") of the Payload Safety Review Panel, and Group Lead for the Payload Safety Team in the Space Shuttle Division of the Office of Safety, Reliability and Quality Assurance (SR&QA). Both of these jobs basically involve ensuring the safe design of experiment hardware for operation on Shuttle or ISS and involve working with domestic and international customers from government, private industry and academia.

I actually started my career at the NASA Lewis Research Center (now the NASA Glenn Research Center) in Cleveland, Ohio, as a research scientist. I subsequently spent quite a few years as an engineer and technical manager working on the solar dynamic and photovoltaic power systems for Space Station Freedom, and on microgravity science experiments for Shuttle flights. Along the way, I spent a year in the Office of Space Station at NASA Headquarters as a technical policy analyst.

I graduated from St. John's Central H.S. in Bellaire, Ohio, where I lettered in wrestling and track, and attended Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, Ohio) where I earned degrees in Engineering (Fluid & Thermal Sciences) and Psychology. I spent my junior year abroad at Leeds University in Leeds, England, and played on the Rugby League Football Club.

I'm involved in a lot of activities associated with spaceflight history. I wrote "The Literary Legacy of the Space Age," [arguably] the definitive bibliography on early spaceflight literature, and served as the Guest Curator for an exhibit on "Cleveland and Outer Space."

I founded the NASA Hot Pepper Club at NASA Lewis to provide a forum for folks who share a common interest in the cultivation and/or ingestion of hot peppers and/or hot pepper products - too hot is just right!