Sociology & Environmental Health · Northeastern University
Doctor of Philosophy · Professor & Public Scholar
Research at the intersection of geopolitics, political economy, science and technology studies, and public and environmental health. Comparative-historical work on PFAS contamination, Cold War nuclear weapons production, and the U.S. War on Drugs in Latin America, published in Environmental Science & Technology, npjClimate Action, Journal of World-Systems Research, Human Ecology Review, and Armed Forces and Society.
Environmental Health
The first nationwide characterization of PFAAS contamination using 79,891 presumptive sites. AFFF use at military facilities produces the highest groundwater concentrations.
Environmental Science & Technology
Military & Environment
Examines the ecological consequences of asymmetric military conflict — from the Kuwaiti oil fires to contemporary air campaigns — and how military power asymmetries shape environmental outcomes.
Armed Forces and Society
Drug Policy
How U.S.-backed aerial fumigation campaigns during the War on Drugs devastated Andean ecosystems, displaced rural communities, and reshaped social and political dynamics in Colombia.
Journal of World-Systems Research
Cold War Legacies
Comparative-historical analysis of the environmental costs of Cold War nuclear weapons facilities — including the Mayak complex — and the long-term burden on surrounding communities.
Human Ecology Review
Energy & Climate
Investigates the relationship between nuclear energy adoption and carbon dioxide emissions, contributing to debates about nuclear power's role in climate mitigation strategies.
Research Article
Conflict & Resources
Examines how the Colombian civil war has shaped the coca and gold economies, with implications for resource extraction, violence, and environmental governance in conflict zones.
Research Article
Power, inequality, and the human-environment relationship. From the "individualization of responsibility" to contemporary ecological politics, students develop theoretical tools for analyzing social-environmental dynamics.
Major approaches to societal development and the dynamics of power that shape individuals, societies, and the natural world — including theories of justice and human rights in the contemporary era.
The relationship between nature and society through the lens of social and environmental science — examining how communities construct and respond to environmental problems.
Foundations of statistical reasoning: graphical and numerical methods, probability, sampling distributions, and statistical inference — preparing students for advanced quantitative coursework.
Prison Education
Working to expand access to higher education for incarcerated individuals, as featured in the New York Times and the PBS NewsHour. The project exemplifies Goucher's commitment to education as a tool for social transformation.
NYT Coverage ↗Food Justice
Co-founded the Washington State University chapter of the Food Recovery Network, redirecting surplus food from campus dining to the Pullman Community Action Center and surrounding communities.
Read More ↗Peer Review
Reviewer for Social Forces, Sociology of Development, Society for Human Ecology, and Energy Research and Social Science — contributing to the quality and integrity of peer-reviewed scholarship.
Food Policy
Participation in regional food policy work through the Palouse-Clearwater Food Coalition, connecting academic research to community-level food security initiatives in the Pacific Northwest.