Brandon R. Brown was born in Houston, TX, in the shadow of the Johnson Space Center. He completed a bachelors degree in physics at Rice University, and earned his PhD at Oregon State University studying vortex dynamics in superconductors. Sustained dual interests in physics and writing then led him to the Science Communication program at UC Santa Cruz. 

His writing for general audiences has appeared in such outlets as New Scientist, Scientific American, Slate and Smithsonian. His biophysics work on the electric sense of sharks, as covered by NPR and the BBC, has appeared in Nature, The Physical Review, and other research journals. He lives in San Francisco with his wife, Dana Smith, a research specialist at UCSF. 

Brandon has served as the Deputy Director of the Green Science Policy Institute and a senior writing coach for the Strictly Speaking Group. For the last two-plus decades, he’s worn a number of hats at the University of San Francisco, primarily as a Professor of Physics, but also Dept. Chair, Associate Dean for Sciences, and Director of External Affairs.

For all bookish matters, Brandon is represented by the Jennifer Lyons Literary Agency.