My overarching interest is to increase citizens’ understanding of and appreciation of natural systems, scientific research, and environmental change. I work with K-12 teachers to help them incorporate cross-disciplinary environmental monitoring projects into their science curricula. In collaboration with the Dept. of Earth and Climate Sciences and the Center for Science and Mathematics Education Research, I teach a graduate course for teachers for that gives them first-hand experience in environmental research. I maintain an online index of environmental monitoring programs in Maine, to facilitate public access to environmental data (www.memapindex.org).
Graduate and post-doctoral research includes investigation into the infiltration of road salt runoff and aerosols into peatlands, a paleoecological study of long-term changes in the distribution of spruce forests in Maine using fossil pollen in forest sediments, and collaboration in a paired-watershed study of mercury and nitrogen processing by watersheds in Acadia National Park.