Dr. Mike Christiansen is an associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Utah State University (USU). Mike was born and raised in northern Utah and graduated from Sky View High School in 1997. He later attended USU, where he received his Bachelor of Science in chemistry, graduating cum laude in 2004. He went on to do his graduate studies at Brigham Young University, where he received his PhD in organic chemistry in 2010. He worked for the next 16 months doing cancer research with Professor Robert M. Williams at Colorado State University (CSU) and was employed thereafter as a professor at USU's Uintah Basin regional campus in eastern Utah, where he continues to work and live today. He has an infectious passion for teaching that infuses his students with an enthusiasm for chemistry. Mike is quoted as saying: Teaching isn't just what I do. It's who I am.