My research draws on political ecology, environmental governance, cultural geography, and justice framings to examine diverse human-environment topics. I employ a variety of mixed and qualitative methods, including field measurements, spatial analysis, interviews, and content analysis. My current research program involves several collaborative projects in three general areas:

Urban Forestry, Digitalization, and Shade Trees. How do new and evolving digital technologies inform the ways we know and manage urban trees?

1. What logics inform the types of digital tools deployed by urban foresters and how do they use these tools?

Collaborators: A. Ponette-González (U of U), A. Coles (TCU), Y. Ko, Y. (Oregon)

Sources of support: NSF-DISES; U of U OUR-SPUR

2. How did ideas about urban shade trees come about and what are institutional outcomes? What dominant forms of knowledge inform decisions about urban trees?

Collaborators: A. Ponette-González (U of U), V. Vispo (BS, ENVST, Kenyon College)

Sources of support: NSF-DISES; U of U SPARC Lab; U of U OUR-SPUR

3. How do researchers use digital tools to study urban forests and how do they envision integrating technology into urban forestry practice?

Collaborators: R. Babino (MA student, City and Metropolitan Planning, U of U), K. Alexander (U of U), A. Coles (TCU), B. Williamson, A. Ponette-González (U of U)

Sources of support: NSF-DISES

Energy, Resources, and Environmental Justice. How do narratives, logics, and power dynamics shape energy and resource production and consumption? How can climate and environmental justice be realized?

1. What are barriers to renewable electricity access? How do electricity markets and utilities structure electricity demand and access?

Collaborator: Marissa Greer (Lead, PhD Student, Geography, U of U)

Sources of support: WIRED Undergraduate Summer Fellowship Program; U of U CSBS Research Incentive Seed Grant

2. Making visible the legacy of mining contamination through text and content analysis.

Collaborators: B. Kelly (Lead; PhD student, Population Health Science, University of Utah), C. Dean (BS, ENVST, U of U), T. Whitfield (BS, Psychology, U of U)

Sources of support: U of U Solutions Scholars Program

Urban Environmental Governance. How do rules, practices, and decisions about access to and control over environmental resources come about?

1. What are solutions to the extreme heat risks faced by vulnerable and unsheltered populations in Salt Lake City?

Collaborators: J. Rose (Lead, U of U), A. Ponette-González (U of U)

Sources of support: Wilkes Center Seed Grant

2. What riparian protection policies and tools exist in cities and counties in the Intermountain West? What ecosystem services do riparia provide?

Collaborators: J. Follstad Shah (Lead), A. Ponette-González, R. Babino

Sources of support: SWSIE Student Support Project