Matt Shields graduated from UVA with his bachelor’s degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering and put that degree to work as a ski lift operator in Colorado for a while before his mom convinced him to move back to the east coast. He completed master’s degree (mechanical and aerospace engineering again), and following a brief stint in computer programming, he took a job as a teacher and spent three years in the classroom before going back to UVA to earn a PhD in curriculum and instruction. He is now in his 10th year at Charlottesville High School where he teaches physics and engineering and runs the science club, BACON, the Best All-around Club of Nerds. He recently started a company, Shields Lab, to help other schools implement some of what he’s been figuring out at CHS. He is married to an awesome wife, Sarah, and has two awesome little boys, Albert and Cramer.