About Joel

I am a human-environment geographer committed to using critical research to support more just climate and environmental futures. Rooted in Latin America, my research currently focuses on three primary areas: 1) health effects of climate change on Indigenous communities, specifically flood and drought; 2) political ecologies of conservation and development in forest frontiers; 3) adaptive Indigenous territorial stewardship practices and biocultural conservation. My work transgresses disciplinary boundaries through collaborative approaches rooted in mixed-methods scholarship conducted in partnership with diverse actors, from fellow academics to civil society and frontline community members. Visit www.fronterascollective.org for more information. **I am not planning to admit any new graduate students to my research group during the 2027-2028 academic year.

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Interests

  • Political Ecology
  • Frontier development -- infrastructure, agricultural exports, water quality & access
  • Deforestation drivers, dynamics, and impacts
  • Climate Change -- adaptation, mitigation, justice
  • Social dimensions of disaster
  • Rights -- specifically Indigenous rights, land rights, biocultural rights
  • Conservation social science
  • Social-ecological systems
  • Transdisciplinary research
  • Qualitative & mixed-methods
  • Latin America: especially the Gran Chaco & the Amazon

Education

PhD, Geography - University of Colorado, Boulder
Boulder, Colorado, 2017

MA, Latin American Studies - University of Arizona
Tucson, Arizona, 2012

BA, Geography - Humboldt State University
Arcata, California, 2004

AA, Liberal Arts and Sciences - College of the Redwoods
Eureka, California, 2000

Awards, Honors, Grants

  • Dean’s Award for Excellence to an Early Career Faculty Member: Warner College of Natural Resources , 2026
  • National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Award: Recommended for funding from HEGS & SBE but returned by DOGE, 2025
  • Warner College of Natural Resources Team Award: The Just Social-Ecological Transformations in Latin America Program, 2024
  • Conference of Latin American Geography Ascendent Award for Early Career Excellence, 2024
  • Warner College of Natural Resources Outstanding Publication: "Disrupting the patrón: Indigenous land rights and the fight for environmental justice in Paraguay's Chaco", 2024
  • Political Ecology Society -- Eric Wolf Prize (with co-author Marcelo Santos Rocha da Silva), 2022
  • National Science Foundation, Dynamics of Integrated Socio-Environmental Systems Grant -- Resilient Socio-Environmental Systems: Indigenous Territories in the Face of Change, Co-PI, 2021-2025
  • Fulbright Scholar, Flex Award -- Building the future: Infrastructure development, climate change, and environmental justice in Paraguay's Chaco, 2021-2023
  • Consortium of Latin American Studies Programs Junior Faculty Teaching Award, 2021
  • American Council of Learned Societies Fellow, 2021
  • University of Florida International Educator of the Year Award, 2020

Memberships

  • American Association of Geographers
  • Global Environments Network
  • Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers
  • Latin American Studies Association

Web Links

FRONTERAS Collective Research Group