A rural-raised, first-generation university student, my experience outside academia includes being a cook, naturalist, hotel maid, stagehand, video game technician, stock boy, surveyor/engineer for a mining exploration company in Latin America, general farm labor, janitor, and various retail positions (plus many other gigs). Since turning my focus to academia, I have been a professional academic advisor, created and supervised several successful and award-winning academic, support, and student programs, served as a Fulbright Scholar (Jordan), Early Career Scholar (Geographic Education), and National Science Foundation Fellow (GK-12), and was awarded the Higher Education Distinguished Teaching award from the National Council for Geographic Education (USA). At the University of Colorado, I was also named Mentor of the Year alongside rankings of excellence in teaching, research, and service when earning tenure.

 

My mantra has always centered on what Aristotle told Alexander, “Go and see...” Even before finding Geography. This continuing penchant for travel, exploration, and discovery keeps me broadly trained, while allowing me to pursue a myriad of research all over the world. In a nutshell, I use my expertise in the Science of Scenery (geomorphology, especially urban geomorphology and rock/stone decay science), landscape change, and humanistic geography to help people better understand and appreciate the Earth and their connection to it. Regionally, my specialties include Latin America and the Caribbean (the Andes and Lesser Antilles more specifically), Japan, the Western US (including US-Mexico borderlands), and parts of Arabia – although I do have a solid grasp of other regions, spending significant time travelling, working, living, exploring, and studying around the globe.

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For more than two decades, I have held different faculty positions at several universities – including earning tenure at University of Colorado before serving as Lecturer in Environmental/Earth Science & Coordinator of the Environmental Science program at The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus (Barbados). As Associate Director of the Stone Heritage Research Alliance, I also collaborate on many projects worldwide: from Barbados to The Republic of North Macedonia & the US to Jordan.

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On a personal note, I enjoy a cold root beer, desserts, Nature, musical stylings of ABBA, Billy Joel, Huey Lewis, & “Weird Al”, movies, excellent beef, basketball, True Love, playing in the dirt, an occasional Dr. Pepper, playing in water, Theatre and musicals, living/life, hot chocolate, softball, nutmeg, wandering through forests, gray, The Arts, rain, volleyball, sci-fi/fantasy, exploring ruins, watching clouds, natural hot springs, and the Oxford Comma. I also have a fondness for (mostly non-pink) Hello Kitty things.

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