He believes that quality teaching and learning fosters intellectual empowerment and social justice. Through learner-centered pedagogy, experiential education, and educating for a diverse world, he empowers his students to apply critical thinking skills to the world around them and to see the relevance of education in their own lives. In doing so, he prepares his students to become civic leaders who actively contribute to society in intelligent and effective ways. His teaching and research focuses on the sociology of race, class, and gender, immigration, and environmental sociology, particularly stratification in the context of environmental disasters.