BACKGROUND
I am a research scientist with the School of Complex Adaptive Systems at Arizona State University, where I lead the research areas on Urban and Economic Security. Additionally, I hold appointments at the Global Institute of Sustainability, Center for Smart Cities and Regions, Center on Technology, Data and Society, and Center on the Future of War. My collaborators and I use an interdisciplinary, evolutionary approach, seeking to enhance prospects for a secure, prosperous, and sustainable future.
As a complex systems scientists, I focus on the world's
most intractable
problems -
problems that typically stem from the conflict between individual
desires and social goals, exhibit nonlinear or unpredictable responses
to policy intervention, and are exacerbated by the increasing
connectivity that comes with globalization and technological
innovation. My research is centered on understanding complex
adaptive systems, particularly the cascading effects of sudden
transitions in these systems. Furthermore,
I work closely with decision makers outside of academia to co-create
data-driven decision tools and insights that may lead to improved
outcomes. The complex systems I study most frequently are
urban systems,
analyzing their
social-ecological-economic dynamics and internal connectedness to
understand the drivers of urban resilience and social (in)stability.
Prior to PhD work in theoretical ecology, I earned an honors B.S. in finance from Indiana University and worked for several years in international finance and accounting. During that period I earned the designation of Certified Management Accountant (CMA) and was certified by Oracle Education in SQL programming and database architecture.