Research Overview

My academic journey has followed questions regarding humanity's place on, and interaction with, the planet.  While an undergraduate, the valued advice of a special mentor led me to pursue advanced degrees in Geography, a field defined by the integration of human, social, physical and ecological questions.  As a Geographer, I found the intellectual home to explore the large and synthetic questions that had always captured my interest and imagination.  My commitment to the study of human-environment interactions continues to evolve.

The broad subject area of my work has integrated resource geography and systems science with applications to issues of sustainable development in rural resource-based communities.  I seek interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches, and have utilized both quantitative methodologies and conceptual frameworks, such as world-systems theory and the bioregional perspective.

Currently I am exploring two topics of interest (1) the contributions of women farmers to sustainable agriculture, and (2) the teaching and practice of sustainability as an "abundance paradigm."