My parents raised my two younger brothers (Mike and Dan) and myself in Trenton, Michigan. I graduated from Trenton High School in 1985.
Somehow, I gained admission to the University of Michigan, which I attended from then until 1989. I enrolled in U of M's Residential College, which emphasizes foreign languages and a non traditional Social Science and Arts curriculum. I got a lot out of it, including German fluency and an appreciation for Bertolt Brecht, but in my sophomore year I discovered my true calling in plain-old economics. I began with almost no mathematical background, but after taking remedial courses I discovered my comparative advantage in technically-oriented areas like dynamic programming, game theory, and econometrics. I graduated with an A.B. in Economics in 1989.
In my senior year at Michigan, I applied to all of the top graduate programs in economics, and one of them actually took the bait. I began the Ph.D. program in Economics at Northwestern University in 1989. After my first year, I worked as Bo Honore's research assistant, and after my second year I worked for Ken Kuttner when he was at the Chicago Fed. My dissertation committee was Marty Eichenbaum (chair), Kyle Bagwell, and Rob Porter. I also received ongoing support from Larry Christiano and Mark Watson. It is impossible to overstate how much I learned from all of them. Nevertheless, my first dissertation subject was a disaster, and I abandoned it half way through my fourth year. I chose my next topic more wisely. The result was Entry, Exit, Embodied Technology, and Business Cycles, which eventually was published in the Review of Economic Dynamics. I went on the job market in January 1994 and received my Ph.D. in June 1995.
My first assistant professor's job was at the University of Rochester (1994-1998). There, I was privlidged with an outstanding set of colleagues, including and the University of Chicago (1999-2002). I joined the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago in 2002.