Raised in a former mining town on the periphery of metropolitan Philadelphia, I have often questioned the relationship between industrial capitalism and the built environment: how, with the power to move mountains, can entire economies collapse, leaving behind the people who traveled thousands of miles to establish homes in a hostile landscape?
I am a PhD student and educator in the Department of History at Temple University. My current research explores the history of working-class families who fueled cleaner, better-connected but increasingly unequal American cities from Reconstruction through the Great Depression.
Prior to joining the History Department, I helped develop accessibility protocols for serving municipal and Tribal governments within New Mexico's Central Rio Grande Valley and drafted Albuquerque's plan for shared-micromobility. I had also managed projects for a union contractor specializing in historic masonry throughout eastern Pennsylvania.
I organized brownfield clean-ups while an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh in Johnstown. During my master's training at the University of New Mexico, I researched how neighborhood activists reshaped university master plans to ensure their diverse communities would benefit from the construction of larger campuses. Shortly after completing my thesis, I volunteered with an immigrant rights campaign in greater Pittsburgh.
Currently, I serve as web & social media editor on the Pennsylvania Historical Association’s executive committee.
Faculty Advisor:Â Bryant Simon