Michael was an Energy Analyst at Breakthrough in 2016-2018. He earned his Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Washington. Following that, he did a postdoc at Vanderbilt University,where he conducted research into combinatorics and graph theory and taught. In 2014, Michael was a fellow of East-West: The Art of Dialogue, an initiative of the Shafik Gabr Foundation. He is also a fellow of The Data Incubator. Michael was a cofounder of Urban Cruise Ship, a research and consulting firm that worked on projects related to broad energy systems and consulted with Tennessee Environmental Council on solid waste policy. For hobbies, Michael enjoys urban hiking, game programming, and political advocacy.