I love maps for their versatility, seamlessly blending art and science and functioning both as a product and a tool. Sometimes they have no purpose but to be aesthetically pleasing. Often though, they provide a lens for seeing data in a complex and multi-faceted manner. In starting my work with maps, I largely worked on the aesthetics-side: making them look pleasing and conveying a message. As my career has progressed, however, the data behind the maps has increasingly been of interest and importance to me.

In many ways, we’re very lucky to live in a time when data is increasingly an unlimited resource. The challenge of our time is becoming less about collecting data and more about creating tools to explore and analyzing it. In my own work, I’ve used my educational background in Math and Science as a basis to learn tools such Python, SQL, MS Excel, and PowerBI and to familiarize myself with certain powerful datasets such as census data, transportation models, and NOAA climate data.

The places we create are deeply interesting to me. And transportation is the key to crafting and accessing those places. How do we get from our home to a grocery store? How does that trip impact people who live, work, or hang out along that route? How does that trip affect the environment? Transportation is complex with the potential to have massive positive and negative consequences on seemingly unrelated people and things. I want to empower people to go where they want to go as sustainably as possible.

As our climate changes, we must ensure we understand how climate affects our social and physical infrastructure to prepare for the future. While I'm concerned with all aspects of the human-climate relationship, understanding how our climate is changing and how our new reality will impact our built environment are most interesting to me.