Curriculum Vitae
I am a cultural anthropologist specializing in religion, human spaceflight, pilgrimage, awe, and the cultural dimensions of exploration. My research has taken me from Catholic pilgrimage shrines in France to NASA centers, private spaceflight facilities, and the Vatican Observatory.
This page is a concise professional overview. Publications, presentations, and media appearances are presented in greater detail elsewhere on this site.
Academic Appointments
2018–present
Professor of Anthropology, Grand Valley State University
Joint appointment in Religious Studies.
2021–2022
Interim Department Chair, Integrative, Religious, and Intercultural Studies, Grand Valley State University
2012–2018
Department Chair, Anthropology, Grand Valley State University
2009–2017
Associate Professor of Anthropology, Grand Valley State University
2003–2009
Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Grand Valley State University
Earlier teaching appointments included the University of California San Diego, California State University Fullerton, California State University Long Beach, and California State University San Bernardino.
Education
Ph.D., Anthropology, University of California San Diego, 2001
Dissertation: “Kidnapping the Virgin: The Reinterpretation of a Roman Catholic Shrine by Religious Creatives.” Fulbright research in France.
M.A., Anthropology, University of California San Diego, 1995
Thesis: “‘By Visions of the Night’: Millennialism and Dreams Among Seventeenth-Century English Sectarians.”
B.A., Linguistics, University of California, Irvine, 1991
Books & Current Projects
Forthcoming
Voyager’s Golden Record: An Enduring Reflection
With Glen E. Swanson and Jon Lomberg. Profile Books (UK) and University of Chicago Press (North America).
2026
The Ultraview Effect: What We Can Learn from Astronauts about Awe, Humility, and Exploring the Unknown
University of California Press.
2022
A Sacred Vertigo: Pilgrimage and Tourism in Rocamadour, France
Lexington Books.
2012
Missionary Impositions: Conversion, Resistance, and Other Challenges to Objectivity in Religious Ethnography
Edited with Hillary K. Crane. Lexington Books.
In development
Earthlings Without Earth: Space Medicine, Human Transformation, and a Future Beyond Our Planet
Working title for a public-facing book on space medicine, bodily adaptation, and human life beyond Earth.
My research asks how human culture changes when people enter environments that challenge ordinary assumptions about the body, the sacred, the Earth, and humanity's place in the universe.
Research & Fieldwork
- 2026: Archival and anthropological research on the Voyager Golden Record at private archives in Hawaii and California, the Library of Congress, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA Glenn Research Center, and the Conneaut Historical Railroad Museum.
- 2025: Ethnographic research on space medicine and human spaceflight research in Galveston, Texas.
- 2022: Research on spaceflight mortuary ritual with Celestis in Las Cruces and at Spaceport America; stargazing tourism in Hawaii; NASA-associated religious communities in Houston.
- 2019: Sabbatical fieldwork at the NASA Human Research Program Investigators Workshop, Kennedy Space Center, Mojave Air and Space Port, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the Vatican Observatory.
- 1995–present: Long-term ethnographic research on pilgrimage, sacred space, religious experience, and tourism, especially in Rocamadour and Lourdes, France.
Selected Awards & Grants
2026
Aviation Space Writers Foundation Award, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
Support for research on Voyager’s Golden Record: An Enduring Reflection.
2017–2026
Michigan Space Grant Consortium funding
Repeated co-PI support for Roger That!: A Celebration of Space Exploration in Honor of Roger B. Chaffee.
2018
GVSU Catalyst Grant for Research and Creativity
For research on scientific and religious understandings of outer space.
1998–1999
Fulbright Award for Research in France
Leadership & Professional Service
- Chair, Chicago/Great Lakes Chapter of The Explorers Club.
- Member, Explorers Club Chapter Relations Committee.
- Member, Explorers Club Response Task Force.
- Advisory Board Member and Space Anthropologist, Cosmic Girls Foundation.
- Co-founder and co-organizer of Roger That!: A Celebration of Space Exploration in Honor of Roger B. Chaffee.
- Longstanding member of Grand Valley State University's University Academic Senate and Executive Committee.
- External program and faculty reviewer, peer reviewer, and academic service contributor in anthropology, religious studies, tourism, and space studies.
Professional Contact
Professor of Anthropology
Grand Valley State University
[email protected]