 He earned his doctoral degree in biochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 1984, serving as a graduate research and teaching assistant.Staben completed an industrial postdoctoral research fellowship at Chiron Research Laboratories from 1985–1986 and a postdoctoral research fellowship at Stanford University from 1987 to 1989.Moving east to the University of Kentucky in Lexington in 1989, Staben was a professor of biology from 1989 to 2008, serving as the chair of the biology department He taught microbiology, genetics, bioinformatics, and introductory biology, winning awards including the College of Arts and Science's "Distinguished Teacher Award" from 1997 to 2000, that college's most prestigious teaching award.