David Pecchia

I joined the Marine Reserves out of High School and went to basic training in San Diego. This was followed by electronics training in Memphis TN. I ran into Nevin Mills there, he was doing the same training, but was in the Navy. In those days, pre-cell phone and email, it was tough to stay in touch on a huge training base. I finished up my training at NAS Whidbey Island--Oak Harbor WA in the Fall of 1982.

I started at WSU in the beginning of 1983 majoring in Mechanical Engineering. I'm sure the profession is fun but the classes were too boring to take, so I switched to Philosophy in the middle of my Junior year and minored in History and Biology.

After graduation I took some time off by working in Sun Valley ID and doing a lot of skiing. I went back to WSU as a Biology major, but was really just prepping for potential grad school. While I was there, I met my wife who was a grad student from the Boston area.

In the middle of my last semester, my Marine Reserve unit VMAQ-4 was called to active duty in support of Desert Storm. We spent around half a year working on our new planes (EA-6B Prowlers) and then deployed to Iwa Kuni, Japan for another half year.

After I was released from active duty, I re-took my final semester and graduated with a degree in Biology while my wife finished up her masters in Biochemistry and then we packed our things and drove to Boston.

We each did entry-level jobs in Boston, me as a researcher for Tufts University Medical School and she with a chemistry software company. Both of us hated our jobs, plus they paid very little in an expensive area to live. We figured that if entry level work pays little, then it might make sense to do this phase of our careers out in the country where the cost of living is less.

I hit pay-dirt first with a job as a research tech at the University of Vermont, Vaishali soon found work at a software company in Burlington Vermont. We were there for 8 years--half of it in Burlington (walking distance to campus for me) and the other half in a neighboring city once we started having kids and needed a house. While at the University I entered the MBA program since classes were all in the evening and as an employee the tuition was free.

After I finished my degree, we moved back to the Boston area, Vaishali again at a software company and me at Affymetrix--a biotech company. When they shut-down their Massachusetts facility, I found similar work at MilliporeSigma, Inc., where I continue to work.

I was a quiet and studious kid in HS, though I think I earned an undeserved reputation as a stoner. I ran twice a day as a cross country / Track & Field athlete and was always very tired. This, combined with my daily contest with Tadahiro, to see who could walk the furthest on their hands, gave me continuously bloodshot eyes. The eyes and tiredness, plus really long hair, would make any normal person suspect heavy drug use but I didn't really experiment until I was in the Marines.