Open Water SCUBA Certification2021
On-line PADI course coupled with shallow bay training and open water training on the island of Roatan, Honduras through Sun Divers. The course included four open water dives and roughly 12 hours in and underwater in just three days.

International Space University, Cork, Ireland2017
Graduate of the Summer Studies Program 2017, a comprehensive introduction to the full spectrum of space studies taught by experts in the field from NASA, ESA, and top universities from around the world. Subjects included human performance, psychology, engineering, rocket propulsion systems and space travel, satellite communications, astronomy and cosmology, and many more.

University of Cape Town, South Africa2014-2016
Masters in Applied Mathematics, Cosmology Research Group, African Institute for Mathematical Sciences

Our research team is working with the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) for the identification of Radio Frequency Interference (RFI or man-made noise) through Machine Learning, with an emphasis on Genetic Programming. This effort in artificial intelligence entails radio astronomy and interferometry, working with ‘big data’, and code development in Python. Learn more …

MIT Cognitive Psychology2011-2012
via OpenCourseWare

NOLS Wilderness Medicine Institute2010-2019 (re-cert)
Graduate of the 10 days Wilderness First Responder course hosted by Wild Rivers Expeditions in Bluff, Utah. In July of 2013, successfully completed the 3 days NOLS WMI re-certification class.

Arizona State University1993
Deep Creek School, Graduate Art Program

The Deep Creek School was a summer art program conducted near Telluride, Colorado from 1992-1998. The organizers, Dan Collins, Laurie Lundquist, and Charles Garoian, developed a curriculum around the themes of “body, technology, and the environment.” Major figures from the artworld and academe convened to interact with up to 20 university level students living and working on site for up to six weeks.

University level students were provided with pedagogical alternatives to conventional art education at the Deep Creek School. The unique program and teaching methodologies of the School engaged students in theoretical and studio investigations that encouraged them to reconcile dichotomies between various studio orientations in response to three pedagogical metaphors.

Robert Leathers & Associates1992
Staats conducted a summer internship at Robert Leathers & Associates, Ithaca, New York, world renowned designer and orchestrator of Community Built Playgrounds. Staats worked in the Leathers office as an assistant designer where he focused on designing and producing prototype outdoor musical instruments for children’s playgrounds.

In just three months, Staats enjoyed hands-on experience in the construction of a playground in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, as a volunteer exhibit designer for the Ithaca Science Center, working with Thomas Rockwell to design and build an interactive water exhibit in the studio of George Rhodes, and at an international education convention in Toronto, Canada.

Stanford University Summer Study1991
Staats conducted a summer study program under the leadership of then Stanford post-doctoral associate Carla D’Antonio on the Big Island of Hawaii, to study the ability of non-native grass species versus native grass species to recover following a fire.

Arizona State University1990-1993
College of Architecture & Environmental Studies, School of Design, B.S. Industrial Design

The first year developed the foundation vocabulary and skills required to express ideas in both two and three dimensions while building a portfolio which granted him entry into the final two years of a highly competitive program.

Years three (Jr.) and four (Sr.) were intense, in-studio programs at the Arizona State University campus designed to enhance and fine-tune skills in rapid ideation (brainstorming), concept enhancement, 2D and 3D model development, and final presentation of products with real-world, end-user applications ranging from transportation to robotics to medical devices and living spaces (in partnership with the Architecture and Interior Design programs).

Phoenix College1989-1990
Prerequisites for the ASU Industrial Design program, including a solid, working knowledge of mechanical engineering.