About Me

My goal with this page is to help students get to know me. Mentoring and teaching is one of the most rewarding aspects of my job, and I hope this page helps students feel like I am approachable. 

I am an associate professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at Colorado State University where I specialize in environmental and energy economics. I received a Bachelor of Music degree (jazz performance) from Portland State University in 2003 and played music semi-professionally in Portland for 2 years. 

I then moved to Yosemite National Park and worked as a back country ranger for 4 seasons. I spent most of my time in Yosemite rock climbing and exploring the Sierras. During the off seasons, I took classes in math, economics, biology, ecology, and political science, and I interned for my senator in Oregon and the Wilderness Society in Washington DC. In 2006 I went to France and worked on a goat farm making goat cheese. 

From there, I went to New Haven, CT and earned a Masters of Environmental Management and ultimately a PhD in Environmental and Resource Economics from Yale University in 2016.  

I now spend most of my down time with my twin girls, mountain biking, rock climbing, and doing jiu jitsu. I am including some pictures of recent and not-so-recent adventures.