I teach courses in environmental economics and microeconomics. The foundations of my teaching philosophy are based on the belief that instructors should develop and foster of self-instruction, establish high standards and expectations for student performance, and provide an enthusiastic classroom atmosphere to facilitate learning. These objectives can be best accomplished in a classroom that encourages students to ask questions (even when they may think they are stupid), provide answers (even when they are wrong) and to correct and learn from mistakes. I seek to motivate student learning both in and out of the classroom and to provide the foundation for students to integrate course material into their own life experiences. My research is also a fundamental part of my teaching approach.  An active research agenda allows me to maintain relevancy in my primary field and to bring current discipline knowledge into the classroom. I have intertwined teaching and research by investigating new teaching approaches and involving students in hands-on learning through research projects, data collection, and fieldwork. As a result, the development of new teaching approaches has led to publications in economics education journals while empirical research in my primary field has led to the generation of student publications and grant funded fieldwork in the Amazon.