Nate is most interested in how learning environments foster learner agency and initiative. Nate grew up exploring the high plains of Laramie, Wyoming, and later the mountain streams of Cache Valley. His curiosity led to studying physics teaching and math education at Brigham Young University. While teaching, he completed a master's degree in physics pedagogy at Arizona State University. After an 8-year teaching career in high school physics and math, he coached teachers in the classroom for one year. Then, realizing he wanted to open a new school, Nate left Utah to study school development at Harvard University. After completing a second master's degree, he joined a team that opened the American International School of Utah—a K-12 charter school in Murray, Utah, focused on blended and experiential learning. After four years at AISU, Nate returned to Logan, Utah, to take a job as principal of the Edith Bowen Laboratory School at USU and began his PhD in Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences, which he finished in 2024. Nate is now working to grow a network of teachers throughout Utah called Utah LEARNS (Learning for Educators And Researchers through Networked Systems).