Projects

Current Research & Community Engagement:

Working at the intersection of sustainability and equity, my research, projects, and community work falls into the following themes:

Indigenous water governance & co-governance:

With tribal partners and allies, I have been working on a social impact assessment of Klamath Basin Dam removal focusing on community resilience, livelihoods, and social well-being.

Additional research with the Karuk Tribe has included a partnership that explores polycentric water governance and Indigenous self-determination in the mid Klamath watershed through social network analysis.

I have also examined models of Indigenous water co-governance, particularly for water quality, with a focus on how tribes leverage treatment as a state (TAS) policies and tribal water quality standards for advancing tribal sovereignty and sustainability.

I have conducted research on co-management of forests and fisheries between state agencies and Indigenous peoples with the Karuk Tribe (California, US) and the Xaxli’p First Nation Community (British Columbia, Canada), and the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (Oregon, Washington, US).

Community engaged research, Indigenous methodologies & environmental justice:

I co-lead the Stanford Environmental Justice Working Group, and the Environmental Justice and Human Rights Lab, together with staff, faculty and student colleagues.

I have participated in Pacific Rim salmon exchange with Indigenous leaders from Russia, Alaska, and the Pacific Northwest, and also supported research learning about impacts to water and Indigenous peoples from transition mineral mining in the Russian Arctic. 

I have also engaged in Indigenous mapping research documenting impacts of the green economy on Indigenous lands with partners at the SIRGE Coalition.

I have supported collaborators with Indigenous community leaders and allies from the Land to Sea Network on co-developing climate adaptation metrics learning from Indigenous and local knowledges.

I have partnered with an arts-based research collective connecting Indigenous scholars and allied scholars to encourage a more inclusive academy through comic art posters with Petroglyph Studios Comics. 

Interdisciplinary environmental science:

At Stanford, I teach interdisciplinary groups of students through my courses on environmental governance, environmental justice, and community-engaged research at the undergraduate and graduate level.  

With tribal partners and allies, I have studied potential pesticide impacts from cannabis cultivation on community water systems and culturally important waters.

I mentor students on how to address power dynamics and the politics of knowledge production in interdisciplinary environmental research.