My projects are experiments in how universities can help communities curate their own knowleedge and meet conditions of uncertainty. They bring research, teaching, public communication, and institution building together around problems that no single discipline—or institution—can solve alone.

Climate, communication, and resilience

As Director of the Texas Tech Climate Center, I lead interdisciplinary work connecting climate knowledge with public communication, policy, and community resilience. Creating Livable Futures, which I founded in the Honors College, extends that work through immersive teaching, place-based partnerships, and the imaginative work of building more livable institutions and communities.

Trust, Truth, and Technology

Trust, Truth, and Technology: Building AI Literacy for Older Adults in West Texas is supported by a 2026 Spencer Foundation Vision Grant. Rather than treating community members simply as recipients of expert knowledge, the project engages older adults as partners in understanding how artificial intelligence shapes information ecosystems. The work ties to my interest in digital citizenship and global information integrity.

Contested information during emergencies

With collaborators in security studies and emergency preparedness, I am studying how people and organizations make decisions when disasters fracture ordinary information systems. Research emerging from Hurricane Helene examines power outages, communications blackouts, conflicting claims, and the coordination problems facing emergency managers, field organizations, and civilians.

Attention and formation in an age of AI

Pedagogy of Unknowing explores what traditions of intellectual humility, attention, and discernment might contribute to teaching and responsible AI. The project brings the humanities—and particularly the apophatic tradition—into conversation with contemporary questions about knowledge, technological power, and human formation. It stems from my book project, The God of Dark Matter, and a related honors seminar.

Community archives and public memory

My continuing work in community-engaged scholarship includes Archivist in a Backpack, Maya from the Margins, collaborations with community archives, and projects recovering the natural and human history of lost Texas apples. These efforts share a commitment to reciprocal research: communities participate in defining the questions, methods, and value of the work rather than serving merely as audiences or research subjects.

Some of my favorite work comes from simply being a connector and forging partnerships among universities, communities, government, and cultural institutions.