I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Ecology in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences at Rutgers University.

My interests are in global environmental problems, broadly defined, with my particular expertise in biodiversity conservation and climate change. I am most interested in how individuals and households respond to changes in the physical environment, and how their responses are shaped by external policies and other constraints. I combine an environmental scientist’s interest in ecology and the natural world with an anthropologist’s understanding that empirical fieldwork helps us explain on-the-ground reality.  Most of my research combines household-level analysis of environmental decision-making and resource use with an examination of global institutional practices and norms that influence environmental policy. Both driving and constraining forces come from the intersections of local and global levels and will have powerful and far reaching implications for people and habitats at local scales. I have regional expertise in Asia, chiefly Vietnam.

Some of my major areas of research interest include: Socio-economics of biodiversity conservation;  Protected areas management and participation in natural resources management; Adaptation to climate change scenarios; Policy tools for climate change solutions in developing countries; International poverty, environment and development nexus; Environmental security and environmental impacts of war and conflict.

I was trained as an environmental scientist/geographer and anthropologist at Yale University (Ph.D in Forestry & Environmental Studies and Anthropology), Oxford University (M.Sc in Forestry) and the University of Kansas (B.A in Political Science).

Before becoming an academic, I worked at the US Senate for Al Gore, in the Clinton White House on environmental policy, and at the US EPA. I have been a consultant for the World Bank, UNDP and other UN agencies, as well as for NGOs working on sustainable development in Asia on such issues as mangrove reforestation, watershed management of the Mekong River, and non-wood forest products use.

The best way to contact me is via email. 

Please note that I will be on leave in Vietnam in fall 2011 and therefore likely slow in answering emails.