While my academic and professional background is in physics and systems analysis, my goal as a graduate student has been to apply my technical skills to solving complex environmental issues. Prior to coming to the UW in 2009 I spent six years at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, and before that obtained a BS in physics from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.  I just completed my PhD degree (May 2017) in the Environment and Resources program in the Nelson Institute, and my new research home is with The Nature Conservancy, with an honorary fellow appointment in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. 

In general my research uses numerical models to investigate how drivers of change, such as climate and land use, affect the structure and function of ecosystems.  For my masters degree I investigated the impact of recent climate change on natural vegetation across the Upper Midwest U.S..  For my PhD, I studied phosphorus cycling and transport within the Yahara Watershed as part of the Water Sustainability and Climate project. My role on the project was to help develop a suite of biophysical models that can simulate watershed outcomes of P and subsequent impacts on lake water quality under scenarios of changing climate, LULC, and land management. My PhD dissertation focused on both historical and future outcomes of P cycling in the watershed.