Buddy Swain grew up in Washington, North Carolina, and on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Science Education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Master's in Botany from Duke University. With a passion for teaching, he spent more than three decades educating students in science, from high school classrooms to college lecture halls?teaching at New Bern Senior High School, Craven Community College, and East Carolina University. Now retired, he enjoys life with his wife, Anne, living in the house where his grandparents spent their whole lives, in Hatteras, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.