ABOUT
Eric was born and raised in Long Beach, California. His pursuit of education moved him slowly up the Californian coast, first to Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo for his undergraduate and masters level coursework, and then to the San Francisco Bay Area to perform masters thesis research at the IBM Almaden Research Center with Drs. Robert D. Miller and James L. Hedrick. He then married Nicki and the two had a very extended honeymoon experience in Cambridge, England while Eric pursued his Ph.D. with Prof. Oren Scherman. While in England Nicki and Eric had a bouncing baby boy, Paxton. After lots of research, traveling, and a wonderful time abroad, the Appel family moved "back" to the good old US of A for Eric to pursue postdoctoral research with Prof. Robert (Bob) Langer at MIT in Boston. After settling into their new surroundings, Eric and Nicki welcomed another baby boy, Callum (sadly, he's not shown below), to the family.
When he is not in the lab, Eric loves to snowboard (in bounds and off-piste), surf (although it has been a while since he could do this regularly), hike, cycle (road and mountain), run, rock climb, CrossFit, cook, and spend time with Nicki, Paxton, and Callum. He also loves to travel and read and is always up for good conversation over a drink or two and/or a spontaneous adventure.
Photo courtesy of acostaphotography.com