My dissertation research is based in the rural communities and urban centers around Lake Titicaca in Puno, Peru to study the role of democratization in Lake Titicaca's water pollution governance. Entitled Water Pollution Governance in Lake Titicaca: Creating Political Spaces of Democratization, I examine the political practices and environmental values of civil society environmental actors and state institutions that underlie the implementation of sewage water treatment plants (SWTP) to mitigate Lake Titicaca’s water pollution. The aim is to understand how democratic political practices and environmental values may reflect synergistic engagements that can generate desired environmental governance outcomes like SWTP, the consolidation of greater citizen political empowerment, and the advancement of environmental democratization. This research has been supported by external, nationally competitive fellowships, as well as by an internally competitive fellowship from the University of Kentucky. I have also conducted field research in Cajamarca, Peru  to study women's governance and development in the Cafe Femenino Fair Trade Cooperative. 

I apply mixed-methods in my research, combining qualitative methods such as interviews with social network analysis, and even critical visual methods like photography. Through a focus on the "lived experience" of political practices, environmental values, and governance processes, I seek to discover and analyze relationships and connections that can serve as entry points for the development of theory. Moreover, my research aims to secure livelihoods and contribute to the capacity of rural and urban communities to act collectively to achieve desired political and environmental ends.

“Can Democratization Protect the Environment? State-Civil Society Engagement and Water Pollution Governance in Lake Titicaca”, webinar presentation for the Society of Woman Geographers, September 7, 2022.

“Lake Titicaca’s water governance and environmental democratization:, paper presentation at the RGS-IBG Annual International Conference, “Emerging Research in Political Geography”, Newcastle University,  England, August 31, 2022. Virtual event.

“Synergistic Approaches and Barriers to Addressing Lake Titicaca's Water Pollution in Puno, Peru”, paper presentation at the Colorado WASH Symposium, University of Colorado at Boulder, March 10, 2022. Virtual event.

“Possibilities for democratic governance beyond the Fair Trade cooperative for women coffee producers”, paper presentation at the American Association of Geographers, New York, February 27, 2022. Virtual event.

"The Governance Efforts of State and Rural Civil Society in the Implementation of Water Pollution Mitigation Infrastructure in Lake Titicaca”, RSA Europe Student and ECR Winter College: Regional Development and Public Policy, November 30–December 1, 2021. Virtual event.

“Water Pollution Governance in Lake Titicaca: Creating Political Spaces of Democratization”, paper presentation, International Association for the Study of the Commons, Lima, Peru, July 2, 2019.

“Is Fair Trade Coffee Enough for Development? El Precio Justo Alcanza Para el Desarrollo?”, Conference of Latin American Geography, San José, Costa Rica, May 21, 2018. (Presentation given in Spanish).

“Café Femenino: Democratic Governance, the State, and Development”, Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies Conference: Democracy, Citizenship, and Violence in Latin America, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, September 15, 2017.