He received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2008. His interests include human-environment interactions, agriculture and land use, and archaeobotanical studies of plant use in ancient societies. He has conducted archaeological and archaeobotanical research in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Belgium, and the Midwestern U.S. His research at the ancient Maya site of Chan in the Belize River Valley investigated the process of agricultural intensification and the role of farmers in the political economy. He is currently conducting ethnographic and ethnohistoric studies of Lacandon Maya household agricultural practices at Lake Mensabak in Chiapas, Mexico, and he is also conducting archaeological and paleoenvironmental research at the ancient Maya settlement of Lake Mendoza in Guatemala.