About the Authors

Justin Lapp

No question I was made for engineering, my favorite magazine growing up was Popular Mechanics.  I earned a Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Rose Hulman Institute of Technology, and a Master’s degree also in mechanical engineering from Clemson University.  Currently, I’m working on the next step at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. 
 

I am a sports fan, preferring football to watch, but I love to play many others.  The only teams I cheer for absolutely are the Clemson Tigers and Minnesota Gophers, for obvious reasons.  I won’t deny that I would take the Tigers if I had to choose.  I play video games as a main indoor hobby, but would rather be snowboarding than doing any other leisure activity.  In high school and college I was a cross-country and track runner, and still competes in road races.
 

Being an engineer, I of course enjoy learning about how machines work, technology, and the things man builds.  I have special fascinations with skyscrapers, airplanes, electricity generating technology, and space exploration technology.  I like reading about astronomy, landforms like mountains and lakes, human’s effect on the environment, and all aspects of physics.  And although it can be frustrating sometimes, I also enjoy debunking human health rumors and myths. 

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Kristina Lapp

I have lived in Wisconsin my whole life and, for most of it, lived with my father who looks like the epitome of old time mountain-man. Acts like it, too. That’s probably where my love of nature, animals, plants, and really anything that’s alive came from. He took me fishing and hunting as soon as I could hold a pole and gun (legally, anyway) and when he took up trapping, I was right there running his trap-line with him. When I went to college at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, I only really knew I wanted to work with wildlife. It took me 4 years to realize that I wanted to focus in wildlife disease and parasitology.

So here I am, getting my masters degree in wildlife parasitology, still at my alma mater, dissecting fish and muskrats, walking around with forgotten vials of parasites in my pocket (true story), and starting blogs.

I spend most of my free time reading or playing video games inside and biking or fishing when I'm outdoors. In contrast to Justin's interests, I am most interested in things that weren't built by people, essentially the life sciences: animals, plants, pathology, genetics, paleontology, and evolution, but I'm also interested in military science, alternative energy, modern medicine, and a multitude of other topics.