Markus Boettcher did his Ph.D. work at the Max-Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy Bonn, Germany, and obtained his Ph.D. in 1997 from the University of Bonn. He was a postdoctoral research fellow at Rice University, Houston, TX, USA, 1997 – 2002 (including a NASA/SAO Chandra fellowship 1999 – 2002), before joining the faculty of Ohio University, Athens, OH, USA, in 2002, first as assistant professor, then (2007) as associate professor, and (2012) full professor.