Larry L. Howell grew up in the small town of Portage, Utah and has lived in Texas, Indiana, Utah, and Finland. He is an author, an engineer, a professor, a husband, and a father. He has been part of engineering teams that designed the YF-22 (the first prototype of the U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor), a nanoinjection process for injecting DNA into cells, and an artificial spinal disc. He is an inventor on over twenty patents and co-author of many technical publications. Dr. Howell is a mechanical engineering professor at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. He and his wife, Peggy, have four children and live in Orem, Utah.