"Sherwood B. Nice" is – obviously – a pen name, stage name, internet name, username, or whatever else you might want to call it. It was chosen because it sounds exactly like the phrase, "Sure would be nice . . ." (recall that one of the goals of marketing nearly anything is to choose a name people will notice, and remember).
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Who is the private person, behind that name? That is easy enough to find out, from any of a dozen sources, all free, on the internet. If you cannot find out the name of the private person behind the "Sherwood B. Nice" name, in less than 5 minutes, you should be embarrassed.
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Nevertheless, I hereby ask anyone and everyone to respect the fact that the private person behind that name wants to remain a private person, to focus on the work. And, on the age-old basis of "reciprocal" transactions (i.e., if you do THIS for me, then I'll do THAT, for you; also called "quid pro quo" and other things), here is my offer – if you will respect my privacy, and not go spreading my private name around in internet posts or whatever, then I will do what I can to cooperate with you, in return. By contrast, if I learn that you've been spreading around my private name, then I will do all I can to ignore you, not cooperate, etc. Fair enough?
 
For now, please just accept the following as true, because it is.
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I'm both a scientist (i.e., engaged in "the endless search for truth", using experiments and the scientific method), and an engineer (i.e., what can we design, build, and create, using what we already know?). I even have a degree called "Engineering Sciences" (since I custom-compiled it from both science and engineering courses), from a major university, with a GPA of 3.9. Since I had strong math and science skills, I decided to use them to try to help clean up pollution, to make the world a better place, so that I could feel proud of what I was doing, rather than living in a shadow-world of excuses and rationalizations.
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However, while still in college, I decided to work for several years as an engineer, to learn what "real engineering" was like (i.e., in industry, at a company that must make a profit to stay in business), and then go to law school. Why? Because it had become painfully clear, while studying the laws and other factors that govern environmental protection, that: (i) the big and important decisions were being made by lawyers, legislators, and politicians, rather than people who understood science or engineering; and, (ii) most lawyers, legislators, and politicians did not know nearly enough about science and technology to be able to help guide technology skillfully and cost-effectively (and/or, if they DID understand reality well enough to work with it, the never-ending drive, need, and compulsion to always, always WIN, by beating others, far outweighed any theoretical duty they felt toward things like "truth and justice". Therefore, I decided (and still believe) that society needs more lawyers who could, can, and will actually understand science, engineering, and technology.
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So, after college, I worked as an engineer for three years, where I became the liaison between the engineering staff, and the legal staff, at a large (and polluting) multi-national company (my job title was "Regulations Engineer"). I do not apologize for working at a big dirty polluting company, for the simple reason that if you want to actually help solve problems, you usually have to go where the problems are. I became "the resident environmentalist" while there; I rode a bicycle to work, every day, rain or shine; and, both I and the company realized that I would NOT have a productive, happy, and successful career if I stayed there, because I was more of a "cost problem" than a "team player" who would always do whatever was most profitable for the company.
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After 3 years, I quit, and went to one of the world's best law schools, thinking (quite sincerely) that I would become an environmental lawyer. But, while there, I realized that most lawyers who claim to be environmental lawyers are actually polluter lawyers – because polluters pay cash, and the environment doesn't. If you ever meet a lawyer who claims to be an environmental lawyer, ask him or her, "Oh, really? Who are your 10 biggest clients? Who actually pays for your services?" He or she most likely will dodge and deflect, and then drift away (or leave in a huff), thinking you're a jerk for asking a question like that.

So, I became a patent lawyer, instead. I didn't sue people; instead, I only obtained patents, for inventors, and tried to help them license their patents, create start-up companies, and turn their inventions into commercial successes, and products that could actually help people, mostly in the biomedical field, and in environmental technology.
 
Most patent attorneys are proud if they can say they wrote a patent that became worth more than a billion dollars. Through a combination of luck and skill, I wrote four of those, and I can cite the patent numbers to prove it. And, I have a serious chance to reach seven, before I finish retiring. And, I've also done some inventing myself; I've earned roughly a dozen issued patents, as inventor, in several different fields.
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That's all the personal information I choose to share, for now. I want to focus on the work, instead of having people focus on me.
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And, even though I've been the "lead author" of this website, I'm not the only creator, by any means. I've been able to work with (and enjoy) a very useful and appreciated network of reviewers, contributors, friends, family, etc., and they all helped.​
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