Digging deep

I am a soil biogeochemist and rangeland scientist working at the intersection of grazing management, soil carbon, and climate mitigation. My research asks a simple but consequential question: how, to what extent, and under what conditions can grazing management drive durable soil carbon gains and improve ecosystem resilience in working rangelands?

I bring an interdisciplinary lens to this work, with training in Biology and Economics (Georgia College), Animal Science (Michigan State University), and Environmental Science, Policy, and Management (UC Berkeley), followed by postdoctoral research in Soil & Crop Sciences at Colorado State University. My work integrates soil biogeochemistry, rangeland ecology, agroecology, rancher decision-making, and political ecology to approach grazing systems as social-ecological systems.

Measuring What Matters

A central focus of my research is improving the rigor and credibility of soil carbon measurement and monitoring on rangelands. I specialize in:

• Statistical sampling design and optimization (for both scientific and carbon market applications)
• Deep and high-density soil sampling
• Equivalent soil mass approaches
• Soil organic matter fractionation and stabilization mechanisms
• Stable isotope methods and high-precision laboratory analyses
• Integration of field experiments with lab and modeling frameworks

Much of my work is conducted on working ranches rather than exclusively in highly controlled experimental systems. This ensures that findings reflect real-world variability, large spatial scales, and long time horizons — the contexts in which grazing decisions are actually made.

Beyond Science

I view policy and large scale adoption as a theory of change. My long-term goal is to help build science-informed policy and supply-chain frameworks that reward credible environmental outcomes in working rangelands. By improving how we measure, monitor, and interpret soil carbon dynamics, I aim to support more transparent sustainability claims, more effective climate policy, and more resilient grazing systems.