I grew in the sub-Alpine Molasse next to the external Helvetic Thrust sheets outside of Lucerne, Switzerland. I attended ETH Zurich as an undergraduate and worked in the Eastern Alps on orogen-parallel extension (Brenner Fault) for my M.S, before moving the USA in 1995 for my Ph.D. at Stanford University investigating the timing of Basin and Range extension. After a 2-year postdoc at Caltech during the early years of (U-Th)/He dating, I taught at the University of Kansas for a decade as an Assistant and Associate Professor and move to the University of Texas in 2011 as a Full Professor. I am currently the Chevron (Gulf) Centennial Professor in Geology, the Director of the UTChron laboratory, and the incoming DGS Dept. Chair (2021). During my time at KU and UT, I established cutting-edge (U-Th)/He, 4He/3He, and LA-ICP-MS laboratories (UTChron).