I currently explore these questions and more as Program Lead of Harvard University’s Thinking with Plants and Fungi Initiative, an interdisciplinary exploration into how cutting-edge science on plants is challenging our notions of mind and matter.

I hold a Masters of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School, where my research explored philosophies and practices that recognize the vitality of the more-than-human world, with a particular emphasis on panpsychism and pantheism in German Naturphilosophie. My graduate thesis translated Gustav Theodor Fechner’s 1848 book Nanna: Or on the Soul-Life of Plants and provided a critical introduction to his thought. I also practice Zen Buddhism in the Sōtō tradition, and have trained as a Buddhist Ecochaplain through the Sati Institute.

Before pursuing graduate studies, I worked for a decade in environmental policy, with expertise in climate mitigation, forest protection, and indigenous rights. I served as Deputy Director of Global Forest Watch at the World Resources Institute and as Senior Advisor to National Geographic Society, and have conducted fieldwork in the Amazon, Borneo, and Arctic Canada. I was a Thomas J. Watson Foundation Fellow and a Mulago Foundation Henry Arnhold Conservation Fellow, and hold a BA in Anthropology and Environmental Policy from Rice University.

My creative nonfiction and poetry have been published in Aeon, The Sun, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Tricycle Magazine, Peripheries Journal, The Rumpus, The Outline, Psymposia and elsewhere.

You can often find me dancing, playing piano, powerlifting, or running trails with my indefatigable Australian Cattle Dog, Lila.