Introduction

I am a broadly trained Human Geographer. Most of my research focuses on inequities. I am interested in: 1) Inequalities (i.e. socio-economic, human/environmental) 2) Cultural Politics of Place, 3) the Intersection of Humanities and Geography, 4) Migration and Identity, 5) Participatory GIS, and 6) GeoHumanities; the intersection of Geography (Geographic Thought and Spatial Thinking) and the Humanities (particularly the human experience and cultural studies).

I am working with Dr. Anna Song, director of the Nicotine & Cannabis Policy Center (NCPC) at UC Merced, to create a tobacco control pipeline.  The program design includes three intertwined activities: Scholarship, Research, and Advocacy. One of our obejctives is to introduce students to ongoing research at the NCPC, guide them in developing independent research projects, and build future researchers and advocates of tobacco control.  This project is possible to a $1,400,000 grant from the Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program

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Currently, at CASA we are working on a pilot study on front yard.  This work attempts to understand local knwoledge on native species and how its relates to socio-economic factors.  The work has being led by student Laura Plascencia (Biology Major) and Dr. Díaz-Garayúa (Geography) with the assistance of Dr. Gardner (Bioly) and Dr. Avwunudiogba (Geography).

This collaborative project with colleagues from the CONACYT and ESRI  examined cumulative deaths by municipio through the lense of a Time-Series Analysis.   You can reach the web mapping application and explore the cumulative effect of practically one year of data. 

I have the privilege to assist Sharon and David Froba on a digitization project about Racial restrictive Covenants in Modesto, California.  These historic housing restrictions, supported by the government and the real estate industry, prohibited people of color from buying houses in selected neighborhoods outside the city center and had devastating effects on their ability to build wealth. 

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Updated: July 07, 2023