I'm Kurt. I use they/them pronouns.

I'm a Houma scholar, writer, and community-engaged researcher based in the Gulf South and North Carolina. I'm a Ph.D. student in the Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management department at NC State University, where my research focuses on Indigenous cultural programming as a strategy for climate adaptation. My work develops relational approaches to climate adaptation planning that center the expertise of humanities practitioners, artists, and culture bearers alongside technical strategy.

I'm a two-time Global Change Fellow with the Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center (SECASC) and work with Dr. Caren Cooper's Public Science Lab to advance inclusive, ethical participatory science. I specialize in qualitative methodologies and storytelling approaches, and I advocate fiercely for the power of narrative in research spaces. I also teach environmental justice courses and work as a qualitative research consultant supporting other graduate students in their research.

Prior to graduate school, I spent five years working as a communications and narrative strategist with environmental justice organizations across Texas and Louisiana. Outside of academia, I love language learning, creative writing, drag, cycling, climbing, roller derby, playing in dirt, watching movies and talking about them.  I grew up in Texas, on the industrialized coast of the Texas-Louisiana border.