Welcome - I am currently a Teaching Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Administration in the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government. I teach courses in civic engagement and leadership, ecology, environment and natural resources, nonprofit management, and science education. I serve as the faculty advisor for the Civic Leadership Minor, and coordinator for University Studies’ Leading Social Change cluster.

Before arriving at Portland State, I worked as part of a team developing a graduate program focused on linking conservation and poverty alleviation in Indonesia and the Coral Triangle while working for the Mars Corporation in partnership with Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment, Fuqua School of Business, and Mercy Corps. I conducted my postdoctoral work at the Centre for Marine Environmental Research and Innovative Technology in Hong Kong, building an understanding of the effects of acidification and hypoxia, among other environmental changes, on valuable and threatened marine species around the Pacific Rim. In addition, I am the co-director for Inside Passage Field Studies, a nonprofit offering undergraduate and graduate courses in ecology and public policy in southern southeast Alaska. Inside Passage Field Studies serves as a research hub for a wide range of interdisciplinary research programs focused on terrestrial and marine ecology as well as the socioeconomics of rural communities.  I have built a foundation for community-based learning, teaching and research in a field setting, working with a diverse set of guest lecturers and co-investigators to cultivate a rich learning environment.

I hold a B.S. in Aquatic Biology, a M.A. in Comparative Physiology and a Ph.D. in Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology from the University of California at Santa Barbara.