I am a Professor of Geography at UCSB where I direct the Human-Environment Dynamics Lab. I received a PhD in Geography from the University of North Carolina, where I also held a NIH post-doctoral fellowship in Biostatistics in the School of Public Health and Carolina Population Center. I hold affiliate positions in Global and International Studies, Latin American and Iberian Studies, and Marine Studies. I have lived, worked, and traveled extensively in Latin America and in over 70 countries worldwide. I speak Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, and rudimentary Q’eqchí Maya.

I research links among population, health, rural development, agriculture, and marine and forest resource use and conservation through ongoing projects in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. I have (co)authored over 100 scholarly articles with colleagues and students thanks to over 4 million dollars raised through over 50 fellowships, grants, and awards from NASA, NSF, NIH, the Mellon and Fulbright Foundations, and numerous other sources. Notable among my scholarly achievements are paper awards from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and the Association of American Geographers, a University of North Carolina Post-doctoral Award for Research Excellence, and an Athgo International VIP Award for participation in the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). I endeavor to make my research policy relevant and I am a lead author on the United Nations Environment Program’s (UNEP) Global Environmental Outlook (Geo-5) prepared for the Rio de Janeiro 2012 World Summit.