Brian obtained his Bachelor's of Science in Geology from Texas A & M University in 1978. Following his graduation Brian accepted a position as a research assistant for one of the department's geochemists. During the next year Brian attended 4 graduate level courses and conducted various experiments in clay and uranium geochemistry. These included X-ray diffraction analysis of clay minerals, fission track studies and Delayed Neutron Absorption Analysis.

After working for one year as a geochemical research assistant Brian transferred to Grad School at Stephen F. Austin State University. For his thesis Brian performed a field mapping project in west Texas, in Big Bend National Park. The title of his thesis for this research is "The Structural Geology of Persimmon Gap, Big Bend National Park, Brewster County Texas, as Interpreted by Remote Sensing and Conventional Field Methods." He obtained his Master's of Science degree in Geology in 1981.

Following his graduation Brian obtained a position with Texaco USA conducting exploration in various basins in Texas, New Mexico, Wyoming, Colorado, and offshore California. A number of these projects led to the generation of various lead areas, the acquisition of additional seismic surveys, prospects and drillable locations. A number of these resulted in the commercial production of oil and/or gas. Methods involved in these projects included the interpretation of 2-D seismic data, regional and area specific mapping of seismic and well data, cross section generation, and basin evaluation.

From 1989 to 1992 Brian was employed as a Geophysicist with GeoQuest Systems, Inc. in Houston, Texas. His primary duties included the installation of and the consulting services for GeoQuest's seismic interpretation system, IES and the Zycor mapping software, Zmap. These services were provided worldwide and included projects in Beijing, China, Essen, Germany, and London, England, as well as numerous sites in the United States.

From 1992 to 1997 Brian was employed by Saudi Aramco in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. He was primarily responsible for the evaluation of a then newly discovered deep gas reservoir in the Jauf formation in the Hawiyah sector of the Ghawar field in Saudi Arabia. (Ghawar is the largest oil field in the world.) This project included the interpretation and comparison of multiple 3-D seismic surveys acquired to evaluate the potential of the Pre-Khuff section and the recommending of drillable locations. He was also responsible for coordinating between team members for the processing, inversion and AVO modeling of the most recently acquired survey. His secondary duties included the interpretation of 2-D seismic data in areas not covered by the 3-D surveys. He was also assigned to a multi-disciplinary team responsible for the development of Aramco's Integrated Reservoir Characterization Process Model. This project led to the publication of two professional papers and produced a process model adopted as the standard by Aramco for its field studies. Additionally he was the team leader of the Application Integration project which developed a smart map information system. Received Exploration's 1993 Personal Achievement Award for this project's success.

Following his 5 years with Saudi Aramco Brian accepted a position with Schlumberger in Houston in 1997. Since then he has been performing consulting projects around the world for various clients. From 2002 to 2010 Brian was a member of the Schlumberger DCS consulting group in Pittsburgh, PA. During this time he became interested in seismic-based fracture detection methods and shale reservoirs. In 2003 Brian secured a $2 million grant from the US Department of Energy in order to conduct a 4-D seismic study of a CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery project of a Silurian Reef in the Northern Michigan Basin. Brian was the Principal Investigator for this 5 year project and coordinated the acquisition and processing of the two 3D surveys that make up the 4-D seismic survey. Additionally Brian performed the interpretation of this seismic data set.

Starting in 2004 Brian began work on his Ph.D. using the seismic data set from his DOE project as the basis for his research. He began his Ph.D. research at Michigan State University and then transferred to West Virginia University. His research focused on using spectral decomposition of azimuthal seismic for the detection and mapping of matrix porosity and fractures within the field. The title of his dissertation is "Use of 3D Seismic Azimuthal Iso-Frequency Volumes for the Detection and Characterization of High Porosity/Permeability Zones in Carbonate Reservoirs". Brian completed his degree work and research and received his Ph.D. in May of 2013.