Raised in Northern California, I attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon, the first in my family to graduate from college. After earning my BA in international studies and economics, I was a Junior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and then served two years in Bolivia as a volunteer with the US Peace Corps. This experience was foundational for my later academic work. I went on to study for a Master's Degree in Applied Economics (Development Economics), and later a PhD in Development Sociology from Cornell University. After a postdoc with the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future at Cornell University, I began as an Assistant Professor of interdisciplinary social science in the Honors College at the University of New Mexico. I now am Associate Professor in the Department of Geography & Environmental Studies. Since arriving at UNM I co-led the UNM Basic Needs Project, which investigated food and housing (in)security among students at UNM, was a co-PI on the Transect of the Americas research network that explored the dynamics of headwater's dependent systems across the mountain west of the Americas, am part of the team on the Transformation Network which explores climate resilience in the US Intermountain West, and serve at the faculty advisor  for the Lobo Gardens.