Mike is a curator of modern military aircraft at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum, focusing on the history of the US Air Force. He is a former Assistant Professor of Strategy at the USAF Air Command and Staff College eSchool of Graduate PME, and a former instructor of military history at the USAF Academy. He completed his PhD in history at Kansas State University in 2018. Mike specializes in military history and the history of technology, with a special interest in air power history. He received his Masters from the University of North Texas in 2013. His current research focuses on the cultural influences on the technological development of Cold War military aircraft, especially the F-15 Eagle and F-16 Fighting Falcon fighters.

Mike has published peer-reviewed work in the Air Power History journal, as well as contributed to several encyclopedias, conference proceedings, and academic websites. He has presented at many academic conferences, including the American Historical Association, Society for Military History, and Society for the History of Technology.

In addition to teaching military history, he has taught courses at Kansas State University in World History, American Air Power, and a course on Comic Books in American History. He has a minor field in public history and has worked as a researcher in the curatorial department of the Marianna Kistler Beach Museum of Art, conducting archival and non-archival research on artists and the historical and cultural context of their work, in addition to co-curating work combing historical artwork and artifacts, including multi-media audio, visual, and digital elements.