I am a graduate student working towards a M.S. degree in geography at Northern Illinois University, where I currently work as a teaching and research assistant. I received my meteorology and mass communications degrees from St. Cloud Minnesota, as I was planning to become a broadcast meteorologist. While my plans have changed significantly, this background has helped me to realize the importance of communicating and educating the general public about weather related events. Over the past year, I have worked on research involving social changes that New Orleans has undergone since Hurricane Katrina. This research has most specifically focused on labor contractor recruiting, Latino migrant workers, and construction industry wage rates in post-Katrina New Orleans. My current research is focusing on social, economic, and political factors which increase human vulnerability to hurricanes in Bluefields, Nicaragua. This research also incorporates the efficiency of mitigation and evacuation practices in impoverished and secluded Central American communities. Teaching general education meteorology classes this year has also been an important part of my graduate work. These experiences have steered me into the direction of academia and education, where the importance of incorporating social aspects in to meteorology will certainly be a high priority. View my CV --> SOI
I am a graduate student working towards a M.S. degree in geography at Northern Illinois University, where I currently work as a teaching and research assistant. I received my meteorology and mass communications degrees from St. Cloud Minnesota, as I was planning to become a broadcast meteorologist. While my plans have changed significantly, this background has helped me to realize the importance of communicating and educating the general public about weather related events. Over the past year, I have worked on research involving social changes that New Orleans has undergone since Hurricane Katrina. This research has most specifically focused on labor contractor recruiting, Latino migrant workers, and construction industry wage rates in post-Katrina New Orleans. My current research is focusing on social, economic, and political factors which increase human vulnerability to hurricanes in Bluefields, Nicaragua. This research also incorporates the efficiency of mitigation and evacuation practices in impoverished and secluded Central American communities. Teaching general education meteorology classes this year has also been an important part of my graduate work. These experiences have steered me into the direction of academia and education, where the importance of incorporating social aspects in to meteorology will certainly be a high priority. 
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