I am currently Assistant Professor of Regional and City Planning at the University of Oklahoma College of Architecture where I teach urban design theory, site planning, and geographic information systems.

My research focuses on environmental and social influences of neighborhood well being as well as land use policies that aim to improve community health. I am interested in the use of spatial modeling and analysis of the built and affective environment as a means of empowering communities to adopt land use policies that are sustainable – environmentally, socially and economically. In my dissertation, The Social Construction of the Experience Economy: the spatial ecology of outdoor advertising in Los Angeles, I investigated the health impact of outdoor advertising in Los Angeles, the historical foundation for its regulation in the city, and the contemporary response by local communities to a proposal to regulate its placement through zoning.

My work appears in the Journal of the American Planning Association, the American Journal of Public Health, the Journal of Planning History, and Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design. I serve as a reviewer for the American Journal of Public Health and Urban Design International. I currently serve on the City of Norman, OK Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee, and I previously served on the City of Los Angeles Billboard and Visual Landscape Visioning Group, the Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council, and the City of Los Angeles Ventura-Cahuenga Corridor Specific Plan Review Board.

I received my Ph.D. in Policy, Planning and Development from the University of Southern California, a master’s degree in landscape architecture from California State Polytechnic University, a master’s degree in environmental policy and behavior from the University of Michigan, and a bachelors’ degree in economics and environmental studies from the University of Southern California.