What is the  Upper Left Coast? It is the region of the United States more commonly called the Pacific Northwest, generally composed of Oregon and Washington. But it is more than just a region and so I call it the upper left coast. Due to cartographic tradition maps are drawn with the North Pole being on top and so on a map this is physically the upper left section of the US. But more than that it is a left leaning, blue voting, organic food eating, energy minded, environmentally caring and local minded area. People here care about the outdoors, health, and social values.  We are tree hugging, granola eating liberals for the most part and we are proud of it. We have some the most livable cities in the country. We brew our own beer, grow our own food and treat our pets like family. We enjoy art, theater and a good night at the pub.  We buy local and shun umbrella’s. We single handed support the Gortex market. Our wildernesses are some of the most beautiful in the world.

Sound too perfect? We have our faults as well but you’ll just have to visit to discover them :)

I am a life long resident of Oregon, growing up in Eugene and currently living in Corvallis/Pholimath. I am working on a PhD in computer science at Oregon State University focused in machine learning with a minor in Ecosystem Informatics. My goal is to work with a team of ecologist/mathematicians/computer scientists on environmentally/socially relevant research over diverse topics. I spent November 2008 – March 2009 in Australia working at the Arthur Rylah Institute (a sub-department of the Department of Sustainability and Environment) using topic models to create species distribution maps for native species across the state of Victoria.