Tag: Environmental and Energy Policy

I started at Michigan Tech in 2022, and I have grown to love the Keweenaw! It has become my home away from home, and I even love the snow. Since I started, I have had the opportunity to teach on campus, work at the Writing Center, teach on Tech Study Away programs in Costa Rica and Wales, attend COP28 in Dubai, and conduct research in El Salvador over 3 separate visits!

My research looks at the incorporation of local traditional knowledge (LTK), which includes Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and Indigenous knowledge, into adaptation strategies. In my first year, I conducted a photovoice project to identify community connections to Nature in the small town of California in rural El Salvador. My results showed that the way participants connected to their environment impacted their perception of vulnerability to climate change. I also research organizational factors that might affect the incorporation of LTK and local contextual perceptions of vulnerability into adaptation strategies by a non-governmental organization working in the region.

My favorite parts of my research and PhD experience have been the multiple opportunities abroad that I have gotten to pursue! Central America has a really special place in my heart, and so any and all time that I have gotten to spend there are some of my favorite memories!

I want to thank the Graduate Dean Awards Advisory Panel for granting me this Finishing Fellowship! I also want to thank my advisers and committee members, Dr. Angie Carter, Dr. Kari Henquinet, Dr. Luke Bowman, and Dr. Pam Martin for their support in my research and helping me secure grants to pursue my research. I also want to thank my colleagues at the Writing Center, my friends, my partner, and my dog, Ducky!

“I’m honored and grateful for the consideration of the Graduate School and the Graduate Dean Awards Advisory Panel for this recognition and the opportunity afforded by the Doctoral Finishing Fellowship. I would like to thank my friend and advisor Dr. Chelsea Schelly for her unwavering support as I chart my course through the challenges of pursuing a PhD, as well as my committee members including Dr. Ana Dryeson, Dr. Roman Sidortsov, and Dr. LouAnn Wurst for their wisdom, patience, and insight.

I was driven to pursue my PhD by the recognition that climate change is an existential threat perpetuated by social systems of power that are out of the reach of the average person. The transition to renewable energy represents an opportunity to not only transform energy systems with the redistribution of energy as electrons that create physical work, but also the redistribution of social power as a mechanism for cultural, political, and ecological self-determination through political and economic empowerment.

My dissertation work is focused on the benefits of conferring decision-making power to people impacted by the energy transition to ensure that solutions match cultural, technical, and social needs and wants, ameliorate past harms, and benefit impacted communities without disproportionate burdens. This research involves exploring community-engaged research, concepts of sovereignty, and analyses of federal Tribal law and policy and its implications for Tribal energy development, sovereignty, and self-determination.

Ultimately, my goal is to continue charting pathways toward a just energy future where people have access to the energy as an instrumental good, recognizing the intrinsic value and inherent sovereignty of all communities of life.”