I’m an associate professor of sociology with specializations in environmental justice, health & illness, and the sociology of risk. I was trained in quantitative survey research and secondary data analysis, and have developed skills in mixed-methods research approaches in recent years, including field observations/interviewing and focus groups. A unifying theme throughout my career is the entwined configuration of health, risk, and society, with a focus on environmental and health issues through constructionist and social justice lenses. Currently, my research focuses on self-migration/relocation from climate change impacts and environmental burdens, planned/adaptive relocation of environmentally burdened communities, green/environmental gentrification, and intensive zoning.

In my fifteenth year as a faculty member in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at UD, I regularly teach introductory sociology (Honors and non-Honors). Further, I have significant experience teaching quantitative sociological research methods, social statistics, and data analysis, and recently have focused on teaching courses that I created (Sociology of Diagnosis (SOCI375) and Environment and Health (SOCI335)). I offer core courses in the department (e.g., Sociology of Risk) and plan to develop curriculum to teach environmental sociology at the introductory level. My courses range in format from face-to-face to online, and I am always striving to improve on course delivery and content in innovative ways that connect the classroom to the community and my research. Recent undergraduate research that I have supervised showcased a lack of focus on environmental racism in news media. 

I am a core faculty member at the Disaster Research Center (DRC), a faculty affiliate of the Delaware Environmental Institute (DENIN), and also serve as a Policy Fellow for the Center for Community Research and Service (CCRS). Service is also something that I take pride in, committing a significant amount of time numerous initiatives and offices around campus, as well as the American Sociological Association’s Taskforce on Contingent Faculty.