I am a first year graduate student at the University of Oregon pursuing a doctorate degree in archaeology. My interests include investigating the development and decline of social and political complexity within the context of broader ecological systems, archaeological applications of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and spatial analyses, and the relationships between demographic growth, expanding social networks, and human-landscape interactions.

As an archaeologist I hope to apply inter-disciplinary archaeological approaches and the high-resolution radiocarbon dating methods to archaeological record in order to reconstruct local and regional histories. My geographical emphasis lies on the Maya Lowlands of Southern Belize and Guatemala. I have participated in field work in the Lowlands as part of the Uxbenká Archaeological Project, as well as in the American Southwest, Hawaii, and Tanzania.

At UO I am working with Dr. Douglas Kennett on an inter-disciplinary project funded by NSF to create a comprehensive Maya GIS database. The goal of the project is to integrate historical (via epigraphy), archaeological, demographic, and ecological data into a digital spatial database to explore major cultural changes and potential inter-relationships between human-induced environmental degradation, societal change, and political disintegration at the end of the Classic Period (ca. AD 800-900).

My interests also extend to research concerning the modern Maya and cultural research. One of my personal goals as an archaeologist is to initiate and facilitate cultural outreach programs that teach GIS and other spatial applications to modern ethnic and descendent communities for the purposes of heritage management.