Researchers

I am a Ph.D. student in Political Science at the University of California, Los Angeles, studying environmental governance, infrastructure inequality, and political participation in marginalized communities across the U.S.–Mexico borderlands. My research examines how environmental harms, waste management, and resource extraction shape everyday life and political engagement in regions like California’s Imperial Valley and the broader Sonoran Desert. Drawing on interdisciplinary training in political science, public health, and environmental research, I combine fieldwork, spatial analysis, and community-engaged approaches to study how environmental conditions influence governance and social outcomes. Through my work, I aim to better understand how environmental and political inequalities intersect in borderland communities and how collaborative research can help inform more equitable policies for the region.