Johnny Lin was born in Colorado but grew up in the Seattle-area. He graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in and an M.S. in Civil Engineering-Water Resources. After graduating, he worked as a civil engineer, specializing in the modeling of rivers and estuaries for flood insurance studies and wetland restoration projects. He received his Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences from UCLA. Currently, he is an Associate Teaching Professor and Director of Undergraduate Computing Education in the Computing and Software Systems Division at the University of Washington Bothell and an Affiliate Professor of Physics and Engineering at North Park University in Chicago. His favorite ice creams are daquirri ice and french vanilla.