Background:
This fall I will be starting my seventh semester as a graduate student in geography at Michigan State University (MSU). From November 2001 to May 2002, I was a short-term scholar at the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL. I participated in a research project entitled: "The Environmental and Social Impacts of Sierra Leone's Civil War". From 1997 to 2001, I served as Administrative Assistant, at the Institute of Library, Information and Communication Studies, University of Sierra Leone. I was also a part-time instructor of geography at the University of Sierra Leone from 1999 to 2001. I taught Geography and Development, Introduction to Physical Geography, and Man and His Environment.

I received a BA Honors degree (in geography) from Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone in 1995. Prior to my enrolment at MSU, I spent 2 years at the University of Georgia, Athens, GA where I graduated with a Masters in geography in spring 2004.

Research Focus:
My current research interests focus on socio-economic, political, and environmental processes surrounding diamond-mining activities in Sierra Leone. I am interested in the existence and degree of economic disparities within mining communities and the role of diamond mining in causing such disparities. I also study the extent to which diamond mining and the social relations surrounding it, has degraded land-based resources and the impacts of socio-political conflicts (the civil war and contemporary local conflicts) on social relations, land-based resources (including diamonds), and local livelihoods.