A Pennsylvania native, Meghan spent 10 years working in Washington, DC for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), focusing on the Clean Water Act Section 319 Nonpoint Source Program and the Drinking Water Operator Certification and Capacity Development Program. Meghan received her B.S. in Environmental Science from Dickinson College in 2006, her M.S. in Environmental Planning and Management from Johns Hopkins University in 2013, and her Ph.D. in Geography with a Designated Emphasis on Computational Social Science from UC Davis in 2021.

Meghan is a Postdoctoral Associate at the University of Minnesota in the Department of Forest Resources working on the NSF Funded Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program in the Twin Cities. Her Postdoc research focuses on examining and changing governance processes to address the unequal distribution of benefits and burdens of urban nature. Her current advisors are Dr. Kristen Nelson and Dr. Forrest Fleischman. Meghan also continues to teach a graduate-level course on climate change and global environmental sustainability at Johns Hopkins University in the Environmental Engineering Program.

Meghan's research broadly aims to create more equitable governance systems that effectively adapt to climate change. Her work incorporates quantitative and qualitative methods and a range of data types including textual sources (meeting minutes, ordinances, newspapers, plans). Meghan currently has a paper under review that examines municipal ordinances to understand local rules of urban nature (water, vegetation, soil, animals, etc.) and the ways in which municipalities try to engage residents in nature-related decision-making and management. 

In addition to her Postdoctoral focus, Meghan remains affiliated and involved in several other projects including:

1. Lake Erie HABs: a National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) graduate student pursuit fellowship with Dr. Kelsey Leonard (U of Waterloo), Dr. Vanessa Vargas-Ngyuen (U of Maryland Center for Environmental Science), and Dr. Rachel Lamb (Fellow at Maryland Dept of Environment). Chapter 3 of Meghan's dissertation asked how environmental risk (phosphorus loading) shapes the social-ecological network of HABs governance.

2. California drinking water, climate adaptation, and drought: funded through an EPA STAR Grant and a California 4th Climate Assessment BECI Grant with Dr. Amanda Fencl (Union of Concerned Scientists), Dr. Julia Ekstrom (CA Dept of Water Resources), and Dr. Mark Lubell (U of California - Davis). Chapter 1 of Meghan's dissertation asked how drinking water managers' perceived risk of extreme events on water quality aligns with scientific information on these same topics.

3. Unconventional oil and gas drilling in West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania: funded through NSF with Dr. Gwen Arnold (U of California - Davis), Dr. Abigail York (Arizona State U), Dr. Madeline Gottlieb Schomburg (Colorado State U). Chapter 2 of Meghan's dissertation asked how environmental risk (well density and proximity) shapes local environmental policy adoption.

4. Mapping the Production of Knowledge on Arab Women and Gender: funded through the Foundation to Promote Open Society, Amman and co-partnered by the U of California Davis Arab Region Consortium (UCDAR) and the Arab Council for the Social Sciences (ACSS). Project team: Dr. Suad Joseph (U of California - Davis), Dr. Lena Meari (Birzeit U), Dr. Martina Rieker (American U of Cairo), Dr. Nawar Al-Hassan Golley (American U of Sharjah), Dr. Sara Mourad (American U of Beirut), Dr. Zina Sawaf (Lebanese American U), Joanna Abillama (Lebanese American U), Zina Zarour (Birzeit U), Chris Choueiri (Birzeit U). 

You can find Meghan on Twitter (@rogue_PhD).