Following graduation, he was employed by General Dynamics Data Systems Division, programming fire-control computers for F-16 fighters.
In 1991, he became a research scientist at the Battelle Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, working on a mapping system for the U.S. Air Force.
[3] In 1993, he began his doctoral studies in wildlife and fisheries sciences at Texas A&M University with Professor William Eugene Evans as his major advisor.
He periodically traveled to San Diego to continue collaboration on temporary threshold shift in marine mammals, until he was employed as a Behavioral Research Programmer for Science Applications International Corporation.
[5][6] Elsberry became interested in the political controversy between creationism and science in February 1986, when he attended a lecture by a Young-Earth Creationist geologist.
He found it superficially convincing and the lecturer gave him a copy of The Scientific Case for Creation by Henry M. Morris.
Using his knowledge of biology and computer science, Elsberry became heavily involved in online discussions on the topic.
He established a group of about a dozen volunteers, the TalkOrigins Archive Delegation, to handle needed maintenance and updates of the site.
In 2002, he presented at the "Evolution and Intelligent Design" session of the CSICOP 4th World Skeptics conference in Burbank, California, along with Massimo Pigliucci, Kenneth Miller, Paul Nelson, and William A.
The Austringer is the personal blog of Elsberry, initiated during a 2004 hospitalization as a convenient way to keep friends and family updated on developments.