Focus Areas:
- Catastrophes, Conservation, and Conflict
- Sustainability and Global Environmental Change
- Geospatial Analysis & Techniques
Country of Origin: USA
Degree Program: PhD
Entered Program: Fall 2025
Expected Graduation: Spring 2029
Dissertation Topic: Vegetation and ecosystem health in a changing climate as a function of institutions
Research Statement: Healthy vegetation systems support healthy ecosystems and human populations. My work is focused on African environments affected by complicated political and environmental histories and seeks to add to our understanding of how institutions and land use choices impact vegetation health and resilience. I use an interdisciplinary approach incorporating remote sensing, ecological data, and community-based data collection to examine landscape change over time while centering local communities as co-creators of the research, highlighting their active role as both land users and protectors. My goal is to support community-led conservation decision-making with actionable, locally relevant information, while adding to the larger scientific community.
Adviser: Dr. Brian Child
Educational Background
- B.S. in Anthropology, Missouri State University, 2009
- M.S. in Geography, University of Florida, 2025