I am a Professor in the School of Geography and Development and in the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Arizona. I earned a Ph.D. in geography from the University of Arizona and hold a master’s degree in public policy studies from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s degree in government and international studies (with certification in Latin American Studies) from the University of Notre Dame.

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As a human-environment geographer and political ecologist, my research focuses on the political ecology of water and development in Latin America, water policy and water governance in Mexico, water and equity, and transformations in small-scale agriculture in northwest Mexico and Central America. My climate research examines the interconnections of climatic change and the vulnerability of water resources in the U.S.-Mexico border region, and climate justice in the Southwest and borderlands regions.

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I've been principal investigator (or co-PI) of several projects supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research, and am a longtime researcher with NOAA's Climate Assessment for the Southwest (CLIMAS) program. I am also an affiliated research professor with the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy.

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I love working with and advising masters and doctoral students in geography, Latin American Studies, and related fields. My students have written dissertations and theses on numerous human-environment topics, ranging from desalination to the plight of marginalized producers' access to water to border and immigration. I teach undergraduate courses in environmental studies, international development, and Latin American geography, as well as on the U.S.-Mexico border, human rights, and immigration enforcement.

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Previously, I worked as a senior urban planner and an aide to the mayor in the city of Tucson, Arizona, and from 1991 to 2002 was associate dean of the UA College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at The University of Arizona.

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I am married to Joseph Carleton Wilder, director of the UA’s Southwest Center and editor of Journal of the Southwest. We have two children, Elizabeth and Read, and live with an Australian shepherd and one cat in the adobe house we constructed in historic downtown Tucson.