Rick Smith is a passionate advocate of the commons (and its slightly more business-minded relative, crowdsourcing) and its integration into good governance. He spent two years in Taiwan sharing his religion and learning international development, Mandarin Chinese, and a little Tai Chi. During his undergraduate work, he started the Molecular Evolution/Bioinformatics Research Group at BYU, an undergraduate organization devoted to collaborating and sharing research on the evolution of genes and their products. Rick is currently a graduate student at Wayne State University School of Medicine, pursuing a PhD in molecular medicine and genetics with an emphasis in neuroscience. When he is not studying or blogging, he participates in student government. He loves to travel and lives in the Detroit Metro area with his wife Lisa.