Contact details

Location

Goessmann Building

686 North Pleasant Street
Amherst, MA 01003
United States

240E Goessmann

About

In my doctoral research, I tested the adsorption of mercury to plastic marine debris. I learned that styrene-butadiene block copolymer is very good at pulling mercury out of sea water. Frustrated that we aren’t acting on the data we already have, I moved into action research. I organized an environmental justice collective that responded to requests for technical assistance from residents of frontline communities around Chicagoland. We looked at different indicators of air quality in Cicero, Illinois. I also became very interested in pedagogy, particularly in translating popular education methods such as Theater of the Oppressed to the university classroom. (In this context, “popular” refers to “of the people,” as in the wider community outside academia.)