- Travelers of the world will immediately recognize that my last name, Moustakas, is distinctly Greek. Indeed, I was born in Greece in 1978 and lived there until I was eight years old, on a large farm of pistachio and olive trees. I still have a ton of family in Greece on my dad’s side. His father (my grandfather) had seven siblings, which for my generation works out to more than 200 second cousins, most of whom are still in my home town of Megara. Megara, an ancient city-state which has been continuously occupied for more than 3000 years, lies “one horse day’s ride” (roughly 42 kilometers) west of Athens, and was such a powerhouse in ancient times that we contributed ships to the armada that sailed to bring Helen back from Troy (at least according to Herodotus). I am very proud of my Greek heritage.
- My mother, meanwhile, was born in Bogota, Colombia, but came from a Scots-Irish line through Saskatchewan and Minnesota. Her father was a self-trained petroleum engineer who helped build one of the first oil pipelines in Colombia. In Megara in the late-70s and early 80s, my mom was an outlier as the only blond woman and one of the few women who could drive, four kids (myself included) in tow. Growing up, my mom insisted that we only speak English around her, and so I grew up bilingual (Greek and English), with plenty of Spanish thrown in for good measure.
- In 1986 my family moved (back) to the United States, and, after a brief stint on a farm in Minnesota with my grandmother, we moved to Carlsbad, CA, about thirty minutes north of San Diego and a five-minute drive from the Pacific Ocean. In elementary school I was the weird kid with long hair and a heavy Greek accent who could kick a ball further than anyone. In high school, I would occasionally leave campus during lunch to go for a quick swim in the ocean. I was friendly with the security guards, so it was never a problem sneaking back onto campus, late.
- Growing up, I swam and played team sports year-round---football in late-summer and fall, soccer in the winter (California winter, mind you), and baseball in spring and early summer. I was on several Little League all-star baseball teams as a pitcher and third baseman (the “hot spot”) and played football from Pop Warner all the way up to varsity as a starting kicker, outside linebacker, and wide receiver. In my prime, I could comfortably kick 50-60 yard field goals and in my senior year of high school I was recruited by Occidental College (a small liberal arts college in Los Angeles) to play football, although academics took me elsewhere.
- At my high school, I was a founding member of an anti-establishment publication creatively called The Underground. We wrote on a variety of both local and national topics, but I remember my article railing against the unbridled power of the Federal Reserve (written in the style of an 18th-century intellectual) as being a real screamer. We would sneak on campus at night and put our publication in everyone’s locker. I’m pretty sure my journalism teacher knew I was one of the miscreants responsible for the paper, but I don’t think she ever had enough proof.
- I attended UC Berkeley for college and double-majored in physics and astrophysics, although I was strongly considering majoring in history. So many great classes to take but so little time! In the end, I added a minor in (20th century) English literature. Anyone who visits my office can see all the amazing books I got a chance to read during these formative years. My favorite authors (from that part of my life) are James Joyce, Joseph Conrad, and T.S. Elliot, although my favorite class was definitely my Shakespeare class where we read one play per week for the entire semester.
- I spent my entire sophomore year of college living abroad in Edinburgh, Scotland, and took the opportunity to travel to many places in Europe. I joined the Mountaineering Club, the Ping Pong club, and spent most of my financial aid money on pub crawls. When the dreary weather got to me, I would call home and threaten to drop out of college and join a blues band (I played the guitar at the time). Scotland is a truly amazing place.
- I met my wife, Danielle, in grad school at the University of Arizona. This year will be our 22nd year of marriage. By far, she’s my favorite person to spend time with. We’ve had more adventures together in this time than I have room to recount, but our biggest accomplishment is almost certainly our two boys, Phineas and Ares, now aged 18 and 14. There’s a lot of laughter in our house.
- I’ve driven across the country many times, both ways and via both northern and southern routes, and have had the privilege of seeing two total solar eclipses (so far!). I’ve been on a wilderness canoeing trip on the Green River through Canyonlands National Park, flown as a “co-pilot” in an acrobatic airplane in New Mexico, and have rock-climbed many places, including Yosemite National Park. I listen to a wide range of music but am a die-hard fan of Jethro Tull and Pink Floyd.
- It was a privilege to join the faculty here at Siena in 2012 and I’m grateful to all the friends, colleagues, and students I have gotten to know the past 14 years. I love teaching and I especially love involving students in my research, including taking them to national conferences and to world-class astronomical observatories in Arizona and Chile. Students who have gotten to know me well, either from classes or research, call me “Moose” (students use “Mous”, although “Moose” was my football nickname, so it makes more sense to me to use that), which I’ve always loved because it reflects the kind of deeper connection I’m able to make with students at a place like Siena.
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