About

Hi and welcome to my site where you’ll learn about me and my work as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Sustainability at The University of Colorado – Denver Business School.

BIO

I have been in the sustainable business industry since 2014 when I launched a small sustainable tourism company in Arizona focused on environmental education, stewardship of natural resources, and creating societal impact. I deepened my sustainability experience with advanced degrees in sustainability at Arizona State University. I earned my MS in Sustainable Community Development in 2016 and a PhD in Sustainability in 2020. I also completed a postdoc in Environmental Sustainability at Georgia State University in 2022.

Professionally, I have been working on water quality, security, and resilience projects since 2004. I’ve held previous positions conducting water quality analysis for the Ohio EPA, flood resilience with the USDA Forest Service in Puerto Rico, and water security and conservation in the Western USA with the Sonoran Institute’s Growing Water Smart program. I now serve as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Sustainability in the Managing for Sustainability and Risk Management and Insurance programs at the UC Denver Business School. My teaching, research, and consulting work seeks to solve today’s water scarcity and climate challenges through private sector innovation in technologies, business practices, stewardship, and partnerships. I lead a research unit called the Enterprise Sustainability and Resilience Lab (ESR-Lab) at CU Denver and serve as Co-Principal Investigator for the NSF GERMINATION Center for Urban Transformations project that is developing a transdisciplinary training program to help graduate students and researchers conduct meaningful and impactful sustainability research.

As a business consultant, I specialize in water sustainability, resilience, and stewardship of water resources – both internal and external to a firm. I have a Specialist Credential with the Alliance for Water Stewardship which enables me to guide businesses toward certification against the AWS Water Stewardship Standards, and to perform audits of performance against the standards.

Prior to my academic career, I was a K-12 educator. In 2010, I was awarded the Arizona Teacher of the Year award at the Governor’s Celebration of Innovation by the Arizona Technology Council. I still volunteer for the K-12 education community. I currently serve on the Board of Directors for Sonoran Schools – a charter management organization operating college prep and STEM-focused public schools in Arizona.

EDUCATION

Ph.D. Sustainability, Arizona State University

M.S. Community Resources and Development – Sustainable Communities, Arizona State University

M.Ed. Science Education, The Ohio State University

B.S. Physics and Astronomy, The Ohio State University

CERTIFICATIONS

Specialist Credential, Alliance for Water Stewardship

Micro-Credential – Fundamentals of Sustainable Supply Chains, Arizona State University