I am a physical geographer specializing in climate and environmental change and prehistoric human-environment interactions across the Quaternary. This period comprises the past ~2.6 million years and represents the time since genus Homo emerged. I conduct research in Central America, the Southeastern United States, and the circum-Caribbean.

I strive to answer geographical questions about:

• The development, adoption, and spread of prehistoric agriculture.
• When, why, how, and under what climate and environmental conditions prehistoric people occupied and later abandoned agricultural sites.
• How humans’ relationships to climates and environments are related to the rise, fall, and regeneration of complex civilizations.
• I address my research questions using a variety of scientific techniques and evidence, including:
  • Hydrogen isotope evidence of precipitation variability.
  • Carbon isotope and pollen evidence of land use and vegetation change.
  • Sedimentary charcoal evidence of prehistoric fire.
  • Tree-ring evidence of environmental change and resource use.
  • Archaeological evidence of land use, resource exploitation, and cultural change.
• My research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the American Association of Geographers, and the Phi Kappa Phi Honors Society.
• You can read about my work in the journals Vegetation History and Archaeobotany, Archaeometry, Physical Geography, Quaternary Science Reviews, Journal of Archaeological Science, and Journal of Quaternary Science.

I am the Secretary-Treasurer of the Paleoenvironmental Change Specialty Group of the American Association of Geographers. If you are interested in the type of work that I do, you can learn more about these topics at http://www.aagpec.org.

Courses I teach:

• GEOG 131: Weather, Climate, and Climate Change
• GEOG 132: Landscapes and Environmental Change
• GEOG 137: Honors Weather, Climate, and Climate Change
• GEOG 138: Honors Landscapes and Environmental Change
• GEOG 331: Natural Hazards
• GEOG 345: People and Environment
• GEOG 430: Global Environments of the Quaternary
• GEOG 432: Environmental History from Tree Rings
• GEOG 436: Water Resources
• GEOG 490: Internship
• GEOG 493: Independent Study
• GEOG 494: Undergraduate Research Experience
• GEOG 497-498: Honors: Senior Thesis
• GEOG 509: Teaching College Geography