This page has a few of the projects I’m working on or have worked on in the past. For a more complete list of my projects, take a look at my CV. For my philosophy research, take a look at the Writing Page and the Presentations Page on this website.

Academic Projects

• Digital Worlds Workshop

I am the co-creator of the Digital Worlds Workshop, an organization that supports research into our increasingly digital environments. Check out our projects, including publications and conferences, and sign up for our mailing list at the Digital Worlds Workshop website.

• (Dis)Orienting Apps: Technological Mediation of Memory, Agency, and Sense of Space in the use of Mobile Navigation Aids.

I am a co-PI on a project looking at how different kinds of mobile navigation aids (think turn-by-turn directions from Google maps on your phone) affect the way we conceive of ourselves, our environment, and the phenomena around wayfinding. This project has included a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council to collaborate with a computer scientist to design and test an alternate kind of wayfinding app, and will soon lead to some forthcoming publications.

• Digital Worlds Podcast

I am the co-host of Digital Worlds, a podcast on the philosophy of technology. Each episode I and my co-host Dr. Michael Butler discuss new and emerging technologies from the perspective of philosophy. We also often interview experts on technology and philosophy. You can listen to it anywhere you get your podcasts, or on the podcast’s website, which also has show notes.

• Master of Science in Bioethics Program at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

I am the Graduate Program Coordinator for the MS in Bioethics at UTRGV. If you have any questions about the program, feel free to reach out to me or visit the program’s website.

• Center for Collaboration and Ethics

I am the co-director of the Center for Collaboration and Ethics at UTRGV, which works to support work on transdisciplinary ethical issues, particularly those relevant to the Rio Grande Valley. You can see some of our work and reach out to us on the Center’s website.

• Thought About Food Podcast

I am the host of Thought About Food, a (currently paused) podcast on food and food studies. Each episode we look at important issues around food, and we talk to academics, activists, policymakers, chefs, or anyone who works on these issues. You can listen to it anywhere you get your podcasts, or on its podcast website with show notes.

• Food Stories Open Educational Resources

I created a class on the Philosophy of Food, and one of the best aspects of that class has been the presentations students make about a food that is meaningful to them. When the class was only in-person, students would talk about a food that had deep personal importance to them, and they often chose to bring that food to share with everyone. Once the class was re-imagined as a remote course due to the pandemic, I was really sad we’d miss out on these. Instead I had students present their food online, and the results have been so positive I am keeping this assignment in face-to-face classes as well. The videos are touching and personal, and really speak to the ways food connects to our lives at all levels. Since the videos were so good, I asked students if they’d be willing to share them publicly. Some agreed, and so I am working with the UTRGV library on ways to turn then into an Open Educational Resource for food studies. For now, they are being uploaded on the YouTube page for my podcast. You can view the episodes here on the playlist.

• Sustainable Michigan Endowed Project

  While pursuing my PhD at Michigan State University, I was the graduate assistant for the Sustainable Michigan Endowed Project (SMEP), which is directed by Dr. Paul Thompson. SMEP serves as a catalyst and convener of interdisciplinary dialogue and research around existing and emerging sustainability topics, and has invested considerable resources in exploring the implications of sustainability particularly for the future of Michigan. It has developed in depth conceptualizations about what comprises engaged sustainability scholarship and how that would translate into research, teaching and outreach. It has been able to clearly differentiate the types of research and knowledge where science alone can provide potential solutions (e.g. tame problems) and where the identification of potential solutions must be collaborative with stakeholders and other social actors (wicked problems). SMEP is now moving to widen the recognition of the significance of these differences for the role of science in addressing societal concerns. For more information, visit the SMEP website

• Center For Regional Food Systems Food Justice Work Group

  While at MSU, I and Shakara Tyler coordinated a transdisciplinary work group on food justice for the Center for Regional Food Systems (CRFS). This workgroup conducts and coordinates research, education, and outreach on food justice, and provides opportunities for cross-fertilization between faculty members, academic specialists, graduate students, and community partners.

• Humanities Without Walls-Global Midwest Initiative: The New Ethics of Food

  I worked on a project entitled “The New Ethics of Food” with MSU faculty Gretel Van Wieren, Paul Thompson, and Kyle Whyte; MSU Digital Humanities Librarian Thomas Padilla; Penn State faculty Nancy Tuana; and University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty Robert Steiffer and Jesse Steinberg. This project was part of the Mellon Foundation-funded Humanities Without Walls-Globale Midwest Initiative. The project sought to build up a network of transdisciplinary research and activism centered on the emerging ethics of food coming out of the problems and potentials in the Midwest’s unique position.

• Environmental Philosophy and Ethics Graduate Specialization for Michigan State University

  I worked with colleagues in the philosophy department to design a graduate specialization in Environmental Philosophy and Ethics. The specialization is open to graduate students from other departments and colleges at MSU, and facilitates interdisciplinary collaboration and learning. There are plans to expand the specialization to a companion undergraduate minor.

• Workshop on Food Justice & Peace

  In 2013 I, along with Samantha Noll and Zachary Piso, created and ran a workshop at Michigan State University on food justice for academic and non-academic audiences. Food justice is a growing movement that has inspired both on-the-ground community projects and theoretical articulations across multiple disciplines. This workshop aims to help scholars and practitioners identify and address the challenges and opportunities in food justice, including issues surrounding food access, food sovereignty, agricultural and environmental ethics, and agricultural sustainability. The conference typically spans three days and includes scholarly talks and visits to local environmental justice projects. This conference is ongoing, organized by a new cohort of graduate students. For more information, visit the Food Justice and Peace website.

• Innovations in Collaborative Modeling: Addressing Complex Social and Environmental Problems Through Systems Modeling Techniques

  In 2015 I was on the planning team for the first annual transdisciplinary conference focusing on the use of systems modeling techniques in managing complex social and environmental problems, held at Michigan State University. The conference was sponsored by the Sustainable Michigan Endowed Project (SMEP). For more information about future conferences visit the conference website.

• Integrated Network for Social Sustainability Annual Meeting

  In 2014 and 2015, I was on the planning committee for the annual meeting of the Integrated Network for Social Sustainability (INSS), an NSF-funded transdisciplinary network around social sustainability. This is the link for the INSS Website. The annual meeting of the network is seen as an opportunity to experiment with innovative conference formats, incorporating in-person meetings, tours, and internet connectivity to maximize inclusion and minimize the impact of the conference, both on the environment and on people’s lives.

Interdisciplinary Research Projects

• Recognizing Value Pluralism among Ecosystem Services Experts and Public Stakeholders

  With my co-PI’s Christina Leshko, Samantha Noll, and Zach Piso, I received an NSF-supported fellowship through the Kellogg Biological Station’s LTER program to research the ways that different communities value ecosystem services. Our research investigated the diverse values among ecosystem management experts as well as farming communities in Michigan. Because values are informed by an individual’s social, ecological, historical, and political circumstances, no single value system is likely to capture the plurality of values held within and between uniquely situated communities. The interdisciplinary project combined philosophical analysis with quantitative and qualitative social science methodologies.

Community Engagement Projects

• Rio Grande Valley Equal Voice Network

I am an affiliate with the RGV EVN, a coalition of nonprofits and activists advancing equity along the US/Mexico border. The coalition focuses on six different sectors (including housing, health, labor, and education) with a special emphasis on immigration reform and civic engagement. You can learn more on their website.

• Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition First Annual Statewide Summit

  While a graduate student, I worked with the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition (MEJC) on environmental justice issues in Michigan generally and Detroit in particular. In 2014, I was on the planning committee for the first annual Michigan Environmental Justice Statewide Summit, which brought together groups and individuals from throughout the state who seek to achieve a clean, healthy and safe environment for Michiganders by working with all residents to hold public and private institutions accountable to the communities for whom they serve and in which they operate.

• Everybody Eats: Cultivating Food and Democracy

  I was on the planning committee for a yearly conference on food justice for academics and the wider public in the greater Lansing area. The conference was a large forum involving dozens of public and private efforts – farms, farmers markets, gardens, food hubs, coops, restaurants, numerous nonprofits – who came together to discuss what it means to be self-sustaining and equitable, especially with regard to the processes being used and policies being developed for changing the food system landscape in Lansing. The conference formed a part of an on-going public conversation about maintaining an inclusive, democratic, and ethical food system.