His research looks at how people meet their needs through use of ecosystems and natural resources, and the role this plays in development in poorer regions of the world. His methods draw from environmental and development economics, development geography, ecology, and land systems science. He holds an interdisciplinary environmental PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, masters degrees in Environmental Policy and Water Resource Engineering from MIT, and an undergraduate degree in Earth Sciences from Georgia Tech. When not on campus, he can be found doing fieldwork, hanging with his family, or running on a trail somewhere.