I hold a PhD in Sociology from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master of Arts in Latin American Studies from the University of Florida. I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Global Studies at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. My research coalesces around multiple areas of social inquiry, including environmental sociology, resource conflicts, the human right to water, political economy, and transnational social movements, using feminist and anti colonial research methodologies. My primary line of research is based on extensive fieldwork with two movements fighting against water privatization, one in Brazil and one in the United States. I come to academia from a background in organizing and activism, and have over 16 years of experience in community, political, environmental, and labor organizing.