I am an interdisciplinary environmental scholar. My research analyzes the social equity challenges which undergird sustainable development efforts to expand clean energy access and reduce air pollution exposures in historically underserved communities. My research agenda crosses multiple disciplinary boundaries and draws on my training in the natural sciences, engineering, social sciences, and the humanities to better understand the critical environmental problems of our times. I am currently working on a book manuscript, several journal articles, and beginning fieldwork for two new research projects in India and the United States. My research falls under three broad thematic areas: 1) Clean Energy Transitions; 2) Gender and Technology; and 3) Politics of Knowledge in Sustainable Development.
Clean Energy Transitions
I use qualitative research methods to analyze energy transitions in historically underserved communities grappling with poor energy access and high exposures to air pollution. I have carried out long term research in India to center the social and environmental justice implications of clean energy programs. In India my research focuses on sustainable development efforts to reduce indoor air pollution through the promotion of clean cooking technologies and fuels. In the United States, my research on energy transitions is in collaboration with Indigenous communities in California grappling with high exposures to wildfire smoke.
Gender and Technology
My research analyzes the charismatic idea that positive social change follows appropriate technological change. My current book project analyzes the development imaginaries embedded in multiple “clean” and “green” cookstove technologies and government programs, which attempt to eliminate the ubiquitous mitti ka chulha (mud stove) from rural Indian homes.
Politics of Knowledge in Sustainable Development
My research analyzes the politics of trans-national research; I focus on the power hierarchies in knowledge production which manifest in fieldwork and experiments attempting to generate insights on climate change and air pollution. I study how scalable truths about energy access, poverty, and sustainable development are generated from specific contexts in the global South. For several years I have been ethnographically studying a randomized control trial on technology adoption, air pollution, and climate change impacts in India.