The Anthropologist

Originally from Upstate New York, I studied Cultural Anthropology and Environmental Studies at the University of Vermont. During my junior year, I spent a semester abroad, living in the border town of San Ignacio, Belize. While there, I ended up winning a URECA! grant, which allowed me to extend my stay and conduct qualitative research for my honor’s thesis. And from then on, I was hooked—hooked on fieldwork, hooked on Central America.

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After graduating, I spent a few years in San Francisco working as an environmental educator and grant writer before returning to the East Coast to pursue a dual M.A. in Natural Resources and Sustainable Development. The program offered me the unique opportunity to study macro-level policy in Washington, DC, as well as spend a year examining sustainable development on the ground at the UN-mandated University for Peace in Costa Rica.

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Following my graduate studies, I sought to gain additional policy experience before returning to academia to pursue my Ph.D. I spent a few years working on Latin American forest policy at an award-winning international non-profit. 

I entered the Anthropology program at the University of Maryland in the fall of 2016. As a Ph.D. candidate, my research is broadly concerned with the politics of participation and climate governance in Central America. More info on my dissertation research can be found here.