Thank you for visiting! I am a PhD Candidate in the Department of Community and Environmental Sociology and the Development Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. I have also been a Visiting Researcher at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito and a Visiting Scientist with the Charles Darwin Foundation.
In my research, I use food as a lens to explore the role of science and technology in evolving forms of global governance, economic development, and environmental sustainability. In my current project, I draw on historical, ethnographic, and mixed methods analysis to explore the co-evolution of the French concept of terroir (‘the taste of place’) and sophisticated food sciences, and their interaction with contemporary processes of political, economic, and cultural globalization. My work has appeared in the journal Agriculture and Human Values.
My research has been supported by a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship, with additional funding from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, the UW–Madison Graduate School, two Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships, and a UW–Madison/Mellon Foundation Area and International Studies Research Fellowship. I have also received the Henry Steenbock Scholarship and the Ruth and Carl Miller Academic Merit Award from the UW–Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.
Prior to beginning my PhD program, I worked full-time as a bilingual educator and administrator at a K-12 school in Comayagua, Honduras. I also completed a master’s degree in environmental studies, focusing on sustainable development and public policy. I worked on research projects in tropical agriculture and rural livelihood development with Runa Foundation in Tena, Ecuador, exploring market-building strategies for indigenous farmers in the Amazon.
I am originally from Verona, Wisconsin. In my free time, I like to cook, work with my wife in our community garden plot, walk in the woods near our home, and plan thrilling adventures as a D&D dungeon master.