Primary Research Area: Renewable Energy Landscapes 

My research examines how cities and regions can transition to clean energy while enhancing ecosystem services and generating local value. I focus on landscape-based approaches to renewable energy deployment (e.g. solar, wind, and transmission infrastructure) that are thoughtfully sited, community-supported, and designed to generate multiple social and ecological co-benefits beyond energy production. 

*Seeking motivated students interested in this research area

Ongoing Funded Project: Urban Greening and Environmental Justice

NSF DISES: Integrating Environmental Justice into Urban Forest Assessment and Valuation Tools, Co-PI (PI: Alexandra Ponette-González, University of Utah | 2023–2028 | $1,549,219)

This interdisciplinary, multi-institutional project examines how urban forest assessment and valuation tools can better integrate environmental justice. My work focuses on incorporating participatory scenario planning processes to support procedural, recognition, and distributional justice in urban forestry planning and decision-making. 

Ongoing Funded Project: Energysheds: Planning for Michigan's Energy Future 

PI (Strategic Initiative Fund | 2026-2029 | $500,000)

This initiative will help Southeast Michigan communities understand and discuss how rising electricity demand from data centers and AI is reshaping energy systems and land use. Using energysheds as a place-based planning framework, the project will support stakeholder-informed scenario planning to explore renewable energy, community benefits, and land-use tradeoffs.