Austin Jeffery graduated in 2026 with Geology and German degrees at the University of Texas at Austin. He was born in Bethesda, Maryland, but grew up in eight different places, completing high school in Prattville, Alabama before moving to Austin for college. He began learning German in high school after visiting the Mosel Valley and Bavarian Alps regions of Germany. He became interested in the Texas German dialect after taking Dr. Schoedler’s German historical linguistics and sociolinguistics courses and Dr. Boas’ course on Texas German and other contact varieties of German. He is excited to help preserve Texas German and work with the TGDP. Outside of his studies, Austin enjoys hiking, reading, cooking, and playing the tenor saxophone.