As an Assistant Professor at Saint Louis University, I continue my research to understand how human-water relationships are challenged by climatic changes and climate governance decisions. I focus my research on the equity of the processes of climate governance, with particular interest in how different knowledges inform those processes. I work with communities to ensure that governance decisions are more culturally-informed.

I recently completed an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship working in affiliation with the Free-flowing Rivers Lab at Northern Arizona University. My project, entitled Hydrosocial territories of climate governance: an interdisciplinary examination of the Indigenous-hydropower nexus, investigated the dynamic interactions and feedbacks between imaginaries, climate change discourse, and hydropower development. I conducted mixed-methods, ethnographic research at climate and hydropower conferences, as well as in the Western United States where proposed hydropower projects threaten Indigenous communities.

My Postdoctoral Research Fellowship was funded by the National Science Foundation (SPRF-2104950). My dissertation research was funded by the National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (BCS- 1756367) and the Mellon International Dissertation Research Fellowship with the Social Science Research Council.

Recent grants funded

The first Global Stocktake (GST) of the Paris Agreement. A Success Story for the UNFCCC and beyond?

Department of Energy Awards Saint Louis University Nearly $1 Million to Create a Climate Resilience Center

Read about some of my projects:

The Conversation: Native American voices are finally factoring into energy projects - a hydropower ruling is a victory for environmental justice on Tribal lands.

Webinar with One, Nature Evolutionaries: Community, Waters, and Connections

Collaborative research: Early Microbial Colonizers of a short-lived volcanic island in the Kingdom of Tonga in mBio.

The many-headed Hydra: Assessing the Indigenous-hydropower cycle in Costa Rica in J of Political Ecology.

Methane Pledges and the Future of Hydropower in Hotspots, Society for Cultural Anthropology

Ethnographic research at COP26 in CU Boulder Today

Blogs while sailing as Chief Anthropologist with Sea Education Association: A Sea of Islands , The Ties that Bind, and a reflection of Now and Then.

Tracking endangered fish in Jarbidge, Nevada with a team of USGS biologists

Research in Oaxaca, Mexico for my Master’s degree at Florida International University

Dissertation research in Costa Rica as a cultural anthropologist at CU Boulder.