Growing up on the Alabama Gulf Coast, I saw climate change first hand. The historic flooding following Hurricane Danny in 1997 was my first personal memory of the effects of climate change and sea level rise. This experience shaped my research focus on how individuals impact the larger environment.
My graduate research at Vanderbilt University focused on how individual's choices impact GHG emissions and nitrogen pollution. This cemented my interest in education and in how individuals can improve the environment and climate around them. Since earning my PhD, I have worked in several roles as an educator, and I have seen the limited climate literacy of most students. I really believe that if teachers are better equipped to share the impacts of climate change and students are encouraged that they personally can have a positive impact on the climate, that the results would literally change the world.
