I am currently an Associate Professor of Regional + City Planning at the University of Oklahoma Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture where I teach food systems planning, geographic information systems, participatory planning methods, site planning, and urban design theory.

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 use spatial modeling and analysis of the built environment to better understand how communities come to support public policies that are environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable. I have a particular interest in access to food and exposure to harmful messaging via outdoor advertising.

I recently started a new project with my colleague Madison Swayne of San Diego State University School of Public Affairs investigating the role of transit access in alleviating food insecurity. The first article from this work, “Integrating transit data and travel time into food security analysis: A case study of San Diego, California” is forth coming in the Journal of Applied Geography.

In 2019, I participated in the North East Oklahoma City Food Security Symposium sponsored by ULI Oklahoma. A video recording of the conversation with one of my mentor Dr. LaVonna Blair Lewis of USC, food justice colleague Dr. Ashanté Reese of the University of Texas, and Councilwoman Nikki Nice of Oklahoma City can accessed by clicking on the banner below.

You can also hear more about my work exploring the nutritional environments of Oklahoma on a podcast I did on Just Sow: The Future of Food.

My work appears in the American Journal of Public Health, the Journal of the American Planning Association, the Journal of Planning History, the Interdisciplinary Journal of Wayfinding and Signage, and Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design.