I was born in 1974 in what was then West Berlin and moved around Germany and the USA as an "army brat", and was raised as a socially- tolerant republican. While in high school in Grand Rapids, MI, after reading, among others, the works of Ayn Rand – which I find rather unsophisticated now – and Harry Browne, I became a libertarian.

After high school, I attended The University of Chicago to study one of the sciences; I ended up graduating with a BS in mathematics and chemistry. The intellectual atmosphere on campus had a profound impact on my development. On campus, I had the pleasure of discovering a fair number of fellow libertarians, or libertarian-leaning conservatives and two libertarian groups: a political University of Chicago Libertarians, and a philosophical Classical Liberalism Society, although the latter folded while I was in college. Through the former, I was able to attend the state convention, and meet Andre Marrou, the 1992 presidential candidate, when we invited him to speak to a large group on campus. I was also able to join with several conservatives to start an alternative newspaper, the "Chicago Courant", from which Jason Hirschman and I split to start "The Whip", of which Jason was the Editor-in-Chief.

One of the highlights of this paper was interviews with Milton Friedman by Jason, and an interview with David Friedman, which I did; unfortunately, we had to fold the newspaper as our studies consumed more and more of our time.

The two greatest influences on my political thoughts while in College, were the Classics of Social and Political Thought sequence I took as part of my common core requirements my first year, and two Institute for Humane Studies colloquiums I attended the summer after my first year. In the classics course, we read the foundational texts of modern political theory, including many of the classical liberal greats. The IHS colloquiums involved lectures and intense discussions on the history and thought of classical liberalism, and a sizeable fraction of the students where from the recently freed countries of Eastern Europe. These colloquiums allowed to me refine my political thinking greatly, and were the biggest single influence on my political thought.

After graduating from college in 1995, I went to graduate school in Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. Despite attempts to become involved locally in libertarian groups, due to the lack of such groups, and a general lack of time, I ceased to become involved in libertarian groups. While in the social and political milieu at Berkeley, I became less conservative personally, and more interested in environmental and social issues, but even more convinced that Libertarianism was the best solution in allowing the maximum amount of personal freedom, without complete anarchy. I graduated with a PhD in Chemistry – my specialization was in theoretical chemistry and most of my publications in chemical physics journals -- in 1999, and moved to San Diego to become a research fellow in biophysics at The Scripps Research Institute until 2002.

After spending three years as a postdoctoral fellow at a research institute, I desired a position at a university where the teacher- scholar model was taken seriously, and so I accepted a position at Wake Forest University, where I am now an Assistant Professor of Physics on the tenure-track. My research is primarily in computational biophysics, and I am a member of the Center for Structural Biology.

I have started to become involved again, albeit slowly, in Libertarian politics. I consider myself a libertarian in both the little "l" and the big "L"ibertarian senses; although I do believe that the Libertarian party's platform is a little extreme on some issues, albeit improving. I am particularly interested in publicizing, and educating the public about, Libertarian thought and stances on issues.

Prof. Fred Salsbury