For as long as I can remember, I have incubated an insatiable curiosity. Why does one place appear in one way, while another place appears in a different way? Why do some people want, while others have? For years I pondered those questions, and for years I rode the amateur researcher’s carousel: find inspiration in X and Y, read a series of books about X, Y, and Z. In recent years, an introduction to the powers of rigorous knowledge production has transformed ambient curiosity into a purpose-driven research program. As I discussed in the context of my teaching philosophy, I do this because I believe it to be important. Convergence between my philosophies of research and teaching is not a coincidence. In my view, an authentic academic journey requires engagement with the most pressing issues of the day, oftentimes in as straightforward a manner as simply asking: “why?” For this reason, I derive endless gratification from sharing original research content and experiences with students. When students are able to see how abstract concepts can be connected to a familiar context; the significance of the process is much more likely to ‘click’ for them. When those concepts are generative of solutions, the learning process becomes an authentic philosophia.
Today, my research focuses on the urban environment, broadly considered. I interrogate the multifarious circumstances of urban metabolism, environmental (in)justices, and societal inequality using a critical political economy framework. This work is urgent, important, and designed to be impactful. It is also by nature interdisciplinary: in the course of my graduate studies at USF, I have collaborated on projects with faculty from at least five different departments or centers. I invite you to browse my research library through the subject-area specific links below.
In the last two years, I have presented my work at four different national and international geography conferences: (1) SEDAAG in Columbia, South Carolina in November of 2016; (2) AAG in Boston, Massachusetts in April of 2017; (3) EUROGEO in Cologne, Germany in March of 2018; and (4) AAG in New Orleans, Louisiana in April of 2018. I am also scheduled to present at the annual meeting and conference of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), held in Cardiff, UK in August of 2018. I have secured funding from various grants and fellowships to finance each of the aforementioned presentations. In each of 2017 and 2018, I was the recipient of a Fred L. and Helen M. Tharp Research fellowship in the amounts of $650 and $800 respectively. Also In 2018, I was selected as the winner of an international travel grant competition ($1,531) to present my current research on waste regimes at the RGS-IBG conference. This work is entitled: “Incinerating Cheap Nature: A case study of renewing and recycling in Tampa, FL, USA,” and will be delivered during the second session (8/30 at 16:50 GMT) of “Geographies of Multi-Scalar Waste Economies.” This session was organized by Drs. Kathleen Stokes, Erik Swyngedouw, and Henrik Ernstson. Finally, in addition to my own research, I have acted as either a reader or adviser for three undergraduate capstone and honors research projects.