In case you aren't sure if you stumbled across the right Jim Nelson (hopefully my photo
reveals that I'm aging gracefully!), or if you just want to learn a little more about me.
I was born in Sandy, Utah somewhere between the days of walking to school uphill both
ways in a driving blizzard (my father's generation) and the days of Nintendo (my
children's generation). I only had one residence (651 Wyandotte Ave.) until after
graduating in 1982 from Jordan High School.
I attended BYU for one semester before fulfilling a life-long dream of serving a
full-time LDS mission to the Dominican Republic.
Like most LDS missionaries will attest to, this was the best year and a half (yes
there is an asterisk by name because I served during the brief time period when a year and
a half was all that was required of male missionaries - of course us missionaries of that era will tell you
that this was all the time we needed to perform what it takes most two years to do!) of my
life - to that point in my life (see Family)
After returning from my mission I again enrolled in BYU and set out to finish a degree
in Civil Engineering. Because of the rigorous study a young engineering student
faces, I had little time for other activities. However, one day I broke out of my
shell, looked up Lauri Christensen on the micro-fiche at the Information booth (in those
days you could get address, phone number, and complete class schedule of any babe you were
interested in tracking!) and conveniently placed myself outside the Joseph Smith building
(the one before the one that stands there now) so that I could run into her and ask her
out. Of course the rest is history (see Family).
For some reason I just never could get away from BYU. After finishing an
undergraduate degree, Dr. Henry Christiansen convinced me to stay on with ECGL while I
completed a Master's degree and later Dr. Norman Jones did the same so I could work on a
Ph.D. I have been going to school and now researching/teaching here ever since!
If you want to read more about what I do besides my work here at BYU see My Other Lives.
