My academic research examines how climate change is transforming the mountain cryosphere of the Canadian Rockies, including shifts in snowpack depth, extent, and duration, glacier retreat, and permafrost thaw. Beyond documenting these physical changes, I investigate how cryospheric instability reshapes risk, access, and decision-making for those who live, work, and recreate in alpine environments. My current research focuses on the Abbot Pass area near Lake Louise, exploring how glacier recession and slope destabilization are influencing recreational use and landscape governance in high-mountain terrain.

I am particularly interested in the human dimensions of climate change—specifically, how different actors experience vulnerability and demonstrate adaptive capacity in rapidly changing mountain environments. My PhD research at the University of Calgary examines how mountain guides in the Canadian Rockies perceive, navigate, and respond to climate-driven landscape change. By analyzing how adaptive responses vary across individuals and institutions, I aim to generate insights that inform more grounded, context-sensitive climate adaptation policy in mountain regions.

Conservation initiatives are playing an increasingly critical role in shaping how mountain regions respond to climate change, yet the scope, patterns, and effectiveness of these adaptation efforts remain underexamined. Through my work with the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, I study how conservation functions as climate adaptation in practice—analyzing resilience efforts across the Yellowstone to Yukon corridor. By bringing greater clarity to where and how adaptation is occurring, I aim to strengthen evidence-based decision-making and support more nature positive adaptations to climate change.