David Pellow is a professor and the Don Martindale Endowed Chair of sociology at the University of Minnesota. Previously, he was a professor in the department of ethnic studies at UC San Diego and director of California Cultures in Comparative Perspective, a research initiative that supports creative interdisciplinary research, teaching and collaborations among faculty, students, and the public. His areas of research focus on environmental conflict in ethnic communities in the United States, Africa and Asia. Pellow can speak on issues concerning race/ethnicity, the environment, labor, social protest, immigration, free trade agreements, and globalization, as well as the global impacts of the high-tech industry in Asia, Latin America and other regions of the world. Pellow has written on the social and environmental impacts of the U.S. and international waste management industries (garbage, pesticides, incineration, electronic computer wastes, etc.) and the global social protest movement that has emerged to combat this issue. Pellow has also published material on environmental racism, occupational health hazards, economic globalization, international environmental protest movements, Silicon Valley industries, the global environment in high-tech and social impacts, waste management industry, recycling industry, international movement of hazardous chemical wastes and international laws/conventions/treaties concerning environmental protection. Pellow also seeks to make the academic enterprise more relevant and more accessible to non-academic audiences. Pellow received his B.A. in sociology and relgious studies and his M.A. and Ph.D. in sociology.