I am an Associate Professor of Anthropology and Archaeology in the Industrial Heritage and Archaeology Program in the Department of Social Sciences at Michigan Technological University and am active in the Industrial Heritage and Archaeology's interdisciplinary community of practice. I’m deeply committed to a dramatically interdisciplinary, public archaeology and study how individuals creatively solved problems at work as they adapted to new physical landscapes and social environments. 

I use diverse methods in my studies, employing techniques from chemistry and physics to theology and art history. In addition to fieldwork, I rely upon experimental and experiential discovery. Besides Michigan's Copper Country, I’ve conducted research at sites in the Great Basin and Intermountain West, Southwest, Interior Alaska, Great Lakes, New England, and the Mid-Atlantic regions of North America.