He is a former Duke University geophysics professor, and has lived in Israel, Italy and throughout the United States. His parents were both Polish-Jewish, post-WWII immigrants. He has written about education for the New York Times and the Washington Post, and has written research articles in hydrology, ecology, geophysics and geology for Science, Nature and many other scientific journals. His awards include being a Karma Foundation Annual Short Story Finalist and a National Science Foundation Young Investigator. He lives with his wife in Northern California.