Ancient history? I was conceived in Korea, born in North Carolina, raised in a family of seven children just outside the beltway, trained by Jesuits at Gonzaga High School, Washington D.C., with a BA in James Joyce from the University of Maryland, an MS in Genetics from the University of Arizona and a Ph.D. in Evolutionary Genetics (under Michael Turelli) from the University of California at Davis. I may be the world's tallest theoretical population biologist (205cm).

I work on the theory of extinction, metapopulations and epidemiology, using probabilistic mathematical and computer models. My favorite organisms are flowering plants and their pollinators, but ticks and bacteria figure in my nightmares. My wife Dr. Dr. Janet Bishop Foley (DVM, Ph.D.) finds me useful for theoretical and statistical collaboration on disease ecology and evolution. We have two children, Brangwyn (3) and Colin (9) for whom my daughter Yla (18) feels we do not set firm enough limits. There are also a random number of vertebrate and arthropod pets around the house, many with unfortunate habits documented by Janet in an online column for petopia.com.

I suffer (with Thomas Jefferson and less reputable obsessives) from an addiction to books. The walls of my house are no longer visible. When I am not reading, grading, working the computer or feeding children, I like to play guitar, walk in the woods and desert, watch insects mess with plants and argue nature, politics and religion. I am trying to learn the bees of North America, but there are more than you would think, 1000 species in California alone. It is hard not to wonder why.