Austin is a PhD student in sociocultural anthropology. His research has focused on political subjectivity, social movements, and the semiotics of protest. Recently he has become interested in the political ecology of human-animal relations, and conceptualizing non-human animals as refugees in the anthropocene. 

Prior to graduate study, Austin had been an activist and organizer in the Fight for $15 movement, Food Not Bombs, Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ), and other grassroots causes. From 2016-2018 he was the Education Coordinator at Mission:Wolf, an educational wildlife sanctuary for rescued wolves and wolf-dogs in southern Colorado.