She applies her skills to understanding the interactions between environmental resources and human populations. Specifically, she investigates how environmental stress may play an expanding role in future conflicts because the economic well-being of about one-half of the world’s population is tied directly to the land, and projected population growth and climate change threaten to increase the strains on these populations. Her research uses statistical models, GIS, remote sensing data, and economic data. She is the editor of the book “Understanding Africa: A Geographic Approach,” and often presents papers at national conferences. Her most recent research published in academic journals is about modeling environmental security in Sub-Saharan Africa.