Attended Denison University in Granville, Ohio, graduating in 1953 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry. He then accepted an Ames Laboratory Research Fellowship through Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa where he received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry in 1957. In his first professional position, at Battelle Memorial Institute, a contract research laboratory in Columbus, Ohio, he worked on nuclear fuel development, radioisotopes applications, and radiation effects. He departed Battelle in 1964 as Associate Head of the Chemical Physics Department to become Associate Professor of Nuclear Engineering at North Carolina State University in Raleigh.