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Welcome to my home page!
Please have a look around to find out about me, how I got into science, and my passion for communicating science to the general public. This includes starting a Cafe Scientifique series at UVIC and writing books using superheroes to improve scientific literacy.
My interest in martial arts is what got me into science. It not only came first in my life (I started training in 1981 at the age of 13) but actually spurred my interest in science. I was fascinated by how people can move so fast with such precision in martial arts. I marveled (and still do) at how crazily complicated it is for the body to do all the things I was able to do and my teachers were able to do better. That got me on the road to kinesiology, in which I hold a masters of science degree, and neuroscience, in which I hold a PhD.
Shortly into my scientific career, I became interested in the neural control of movement and rehabilitation of walking after stroke and spinal cord injury. This continues as my main reseearch focus now. It is worth noting that training for extremely high level performance and rehabilitation to improve function lost after neurotrauma are just different points on a continuum of performance. So, all the basic principles in terms of how the body responds to stress and training are the same, just applied slightly differently.
Since my early teen age years my main activity has been studying and then teaching the martial arts of karate (initially Chito-ryu, now Yuishinkai) and Ryukyu Kobujutsu. In addition to playing with my daughters and watching them figure skate or play softball, some of my other activities include walking our dog, brewing beer and wine, fishing, and playing electric guitar.
My favourite authors are JRR Tolkien, Stephen King, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and Frank Herbert while my favourite poets are T.S. Eliot and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. I have very eclectic musical tastes and enjoy almost all music from Beethoven to Johnny Cash, to Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. I have an aptitude for languages and can speak some French, Japanese, German, Italian, and Spanish. I also have a fondness for spectator sport and enjoy watching soccer, hockey, and football.