His scholarly research has focused on metal mining as a core social activity and highly influential relationship to the natural world in the nineteenth century American West, culminating in his first book, _Gambling on Ore: The Nature of Metal Mining in the United States_. He has just begun a second historical research project in which he is using activities surrounding several nineteenth-century gold rush episodes to explore the development of U.S. foreign policy in and around conflicts and negotiations with indigenous groups making claims on the resources surrounding these site. This project will engage a spacial analysis and digital visualization to understand the contrasting claims on the landscape that led to conflicts between settler society and indigenous inhabitants.