Adam earned his bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and Philosophy from East Carolina University in 2014 and his master’s degree in Anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2017. His master’s thesis investigated the effects of resource distribution and human activity on feral rhesus macaque social behavior in Central Florida.

He moved to Texas in 2019, where he completed his PhD at the University of Texas at San Antonio in Anthropology. His dissertation research explored how Texans and javelinas coexist across Texas, including in the Big Bend region. The research project resulted in the publication of his first book, Living with Javelinas: Multispecies Conviviality in Texas (October 2026) with UT Press.

His first academic appointment was as a lecturer at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, following the completion of his master’s degree. During his doctoral studies, he also served as an instructor at Northwest Vista College. Following the completion of his PhD, Adam accepted an Assistant Professorship in Anthropology at the University of Texas at Arlington, where he served as chair of the Council on Society and the Environment.

Adam will join Sul Ross State University as Director of the Center for Big Bend Studies in January of 2027.

His research explores human-environmental relations, including human-wildlife conflict and conviviality, ecological adaptation, and applied human ecology across the Trans-Pecos and borderland regions.