Currently a law student at Cornell University, where I also received undergraduate degrees in International Relations and Near Eastern Studies, with concentrations in Religious Studies and Conflict Studies. I have a particular interest in the strategic dynamics of small force deployment, primarily concerning unconventional military units including modern special forces, irregular guerrilla troops, and terrorist organizations. Also, like most political science types, I have a minor in Statistical Analysis. It surprises many people to learn how heavily political science studies rely on mathematical modeling, but it's a large part of the field. Especially in the political campaign world, you'll often find that prominent figures are statisticians who happen to apply their expertise to politics.

I also enjoy a wide variety of outdoor sports...tennis, swimming, golf, disc golf, white water kayaking, and amateur caving consume large chunks of my free time when the weather is decent. When there's snow on the ground, I love to ski and just learned to snowboard this past season thanks to some serious peer pressure.

I'm a voracious reader albeit the exorbitant amount of time I spend reading texts and papers for courses. The second best means of educating oneself and achieving a better understanding of the world remains reading as many relevant books as possible. There's so much information out there, and I've had my views radically changed more than once in the course of my exploration. Of course, once you've read up on a subject, the best way to explore it is to actually encounter it in the real world. I spent 2 1/2 months in Iraq with a professor and several doctoral candidates a couple summers ago, and it remains the most significant experience of my life. My only regret is that I speak only passable Arabic, and it's the standardized "city" version at that, so I didn't have much opportunity to really wander off on my own. Perhaps someday I'll have the opportunity to return!

Following graduation I intend to spend several years working at either a law or consulting firm, just long enough to save enough money to adequately support my (future) family, at which point I'll be exploring options within the government. Since childhood, partially due to my own family dynamic, I've promised myself that I'll work in whatever capacity is necessary to afford my (future) wife the option of working herself, and my (future) children a financially secure future. And no, I'm not ever running for office unless American politics change markedly (not likely). After all of this hard work, I'd prefer to utilize my talents and education in a more professional environment surrounded, hopefully, by people who are far more intelligent than myself; politicians spend their careers being derided and maligned by people who are largely too lazy or ignorant to read a single book about subjects which they claim expertise in. The worst part of this process is that such people actually delude themselves into believing a 30 minute Google search or following the news yields any real understanding of complicated events. I have serious qualms with anyone incapable of admitting they simply don't know something. Ignorance has been a major force behind far too many conflicts throughout history. Also, mean people suck.

Well, that's gone on far too long. My apologies for subjecting anyone who read it with some expectation of significant revelations to the drudgery and ranting! If you're interested in anything I've mentioned, be it religious studies or disc golf, feel free to get in touch!