I am a researcher, evaluator, and educator focused on understanding how learning experiences shape people, communities, and systems.

After years as an informal educator in STEM and environmental education (including teaching aboard a WWII submarine), I became fascinated by the kinds of learning experiences that change people. I saw transformation happening every day, and I wanted better ways to capture, understand, and share evidence of that impact.

As Principal of Aspect Research + Evaluation, I partner with education- and community-focused organizations to ask, and answer, the questions that matter most to their work. For more than a decade, my projects have focused on designing and studying equitable learning environments in STEM, place-based, and sustainability education. Social justice, racial and gender equity, and amplifying marginalized voices are central to everything we do at Aspect. I approach evaluation as a collaborative practice, prioritizing participatory and co-design methods that honor the expertise of communities themselves.

My background spans research, practice, and leadership. I spent eight years with the Institute for Science and Math Education at the University of Washington, working in research–practice partnerships as both a graduate researcher and postdoctoral scholar. In 2017, I was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Oslo, where I led multiple research projects in sustainability and science education. More recently, I served on the founding leadership team of the Seattle Evaluation Association and completed my term as President in 2025.

In ecological contexts, where I had my first experiences teaching, aspect refers to how a place is oriented and the conditions that orientation creates. On an overnight field trip to Eastern Washington with a graduate-level forestry class in 2004 (with the legendary Dr. Linda Brubaker), I became enamored with a new understanding of how south-facing slopes in the Northern Hemisphere tend to be warmer and drier, while north-facing slopes are cooler and more humid. That difference in orientation influences sunlight, temperature, moisture, and, ultimately, which plants, animals, and soils can thrive.

Research and evaluation work in much the same way. Aspect reflects the viewpoints or stances we adopt: whose perspectives we center, which questions we prioritize, and what conditions we attend to. These choices shape what becomes visible and what remains hidden. Small shifts in aspect can lead to fundamentally different understandings of programs, learning environments, and communities.

Aspect reflects our commitment to intentional, reflective inquiry. We recognize that all research is shaped by perspective and that there is no neutral or objective vantage point- every way of seeing carries assumptions, values, and biases. Rather than pretending these influences don’t exist, we aim to account for them directly. Equitable research requires attention to how power, place, and lived experience shape evidence and outcomes. By being explicit about aspect, we create space for multiple viewpoints and more meaningful, actionable learning.