Biographical Information

Born in Austin, Texas, Andy and his family fled the state as environmental refugees from the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, to which his mother had a lethal allergy. After relocating to Colorado, he attended the Colorado College as a Boettcher scholar and received a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Science (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) as well as CC’s Outstanding Senior Award in the Environmental Sciences.

Andy’s interest in environmental issues derives largely from a year spent teaching at the Uthongathi School and working at the Albert Luthuli Community Development and Education Trust in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa. Before coming to Stanford, Andy also researched aquaculture policy for Becky Goldburg at Environmental Defense, instructed in and administered a marine science education program at the Catalina Island Marine Institute, worked for the National Marine Fisheries Service as an observer in the Alaskan pollock and California drift-gillnet swordfish fisheries, and traveled many of the world’s coastlines looking for potential dissertation topics (at one point tracing Shackleton’s wake to South Georgia).

Now in his 4th year, Andy is researching the environmental and social history of the Chilean salmon farming industry in its historical center on the island of Chiloé. Using marine aquaculture as a lens through which to focus on the human relationship with the marine world, he blends his research in archival and oral history with contemporary aquaculture policy to inform responsible marine resource stewardship. He is also interested in alternative education platforms that can be used to broadly disseminate knowledge about human interdependence on the marine environment. When not pursuing this, he can be found in, on, or under water in its various forms (often with his head in the clouds).