I am now an assistant professor at California State University Channel Islands, where my research examines the relationships between coastal resources and coastal societies in the context of resource management in a changing environment. I combine natural science, social science, and citizen science in order to advance the theory and practice of coastal management through engagement with coastal resource user communities.
I spent most of my life in, on or under the water, beginning with my childhood in San Diego, CA. I received my BS in marine biology from UCLA and my MS in oceanography from the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, where I worked and lived at the Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology on Coconut Island. In addition to Hawai‘i, I have also conducted field work in ocean, coastal, and terrestrial settings all over California, as well as in the Turks and Caicos, Bahamas, Panama, the Galápagos, and Antarctica. During this phase of my career, I generally focused on how environmental health is measured in different systems.
This work underscored for me some of the issues in resource management and policy that are at the heart of environmental problems. With this in mind, I moved to Washington, DC to accept a Knauss Fellowship in the office of Congressman Sam Farr. There I worked to craft and promote an ocean agenda in the US Congress and witnessed firsthand when and how science enters the policy process.
I came to Stanford in 2010 and in 2015 I completed my PhD in the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources, where I studied the relationships between coastal users, coastal resources, and coastal management. My dissertation was titled "The Human Dimensions of Wave Resource Management in California" and is available online, here: https://purl.stanford.edu/wf295wm6779
In addition to the courses listed under my teaching tab, I participated as an instructor or teaching assistant in the following Stanford courses:
-The Social Ocean: Ocean Conservation, Management, and Policy (ENVRES 220)
-Research Approaches for Environmental Problem Solving (ENVRES 330)
-The 2012 Wrigley Earth Systems Field Program in Hawai‘i (BIO 116, ES 117, & ANTHRO 118)
-California Coast: Science, Law, & Policy (CEE 275A)
-SES Summer Undergraduate Research Program
-Center for Ocean Solutions Graduate Ocean Policy Summer Course (BIOHOPK 280)
-PhD Students on the PhD (EARTHSYS 202)
-The 2014 and 2016 Wrigley Earth Systems Field Programs in Hawai‘i (as Curriculum Coordinator)