Thirteen years ago I became Director of SWRS in the Chiricahua Mountains of southeastern Arizona.  I moved here from Tucson where I had initiated my life in the West (having grown up on Staten Island in New York City and graduated from Cornell in zoology).  At the university of Arizona I completed a M.S. in herpetology (1966) before joining the Peace Corps to teach zoology for two years at the Universidad Agraria de la Selva in Peru.  Returning to Arizona, I worked with the San Carlos Apache tribe on the economic development of a desert shrub, jojoba, before returning to school for a Ph.D focused on organismal biology of horned lizards.   currently serve as station administrator, continue field investigations on horned lizards, lecture to visiting classes, oversee a resident volunteer program that promotes mentoring between potential scientists and active researchers, and instigate learning experiences for two < 6 year-old boys.