Ryan R Otter

Born in suburban Detroit, Ryan was raised in a family closely related to the auto industry. After deciding to go to college at Michigan State University, he struggled the first couple of years with what he wanted to do for the rest of his life until the fear of graduation and life after college sank in. After talking with advisors and trying the tools that were already developed to help students like him with this type of problem, he decided to develop his own method of how to pick the right career path. After applying his method he chose the field of science and graduated from Michigan State University with both his bachelors and masters degrees in zoology in less than five years. He continued on in science and started his Ph.D. in environmental toxicology at Clemson University. After graduating with his Ph.D. at the age of 26 he took a post-doctoral research fellowship at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. After an 18-month stay at Miami University, Ryan accepted a research and teaching position at Middle Tennessee State University where his lab works on variety of research projects. In addition to research and teaching, he has written a book entitled How to Win at the Game of College: Practical Advice from a College Professor, which was derived from his personal experiences both as a student and a professor. As a young professor that still remembers life as a college student, he provides a unique insight into the challenges and opportunities students are about to be presented with, and how to tackle them. The book focuses on helping students transition from high school to college and helping them pick the right career path using the same steps that he used when he was in college. Ryan currently lives in Murfreesboro, Tennessee with his wife Liz, and his two sons.