As an environmental social scientist who integrates political ecology and anthropology, my research analyzes cultural transformations in ocean science and environmentalism. Crucial to this project is the advancement of equitable environmentalism at local, national, and international scales. I undertake long-term ethnographic research on environmental conservation, primarily related to marine environments, and with fieldwork centered primarily in Japan.

­­­My research reflects an interdisciplinary, transnational approach to understanding the complex relationships of people to their environments. I graduated from Yale University’s Environmental Studies and Anthropology combined PhD program in 2014, following an M.A. in Ecological Anthropology from the University of Hawai’i and a B.A. in Anthropology and Japanese Studies from the University of Iowa.

I am currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at American University. My current position reflects my interdisciplinary intellectual interests in research and teaching, and I collaborate with scholars across disciplines as affiliate faculty in Environmental Studies. My work has been funded by Fulbright Foundation, U.S. National Science Foundation, Wenner-Gren Foundation, Tropical Resources Institute, and Council on East Asian Studies. I have published my research in a range of peer-reviewed outlets, specifically selected to reach diverse audiences in environmental and food studies, anthropology, and conservation practice.