Liliana Sierra Castillo, MS
Lili (she/her) is a Honduran Ph.D. candidate at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara. As an interdisciplinary seafood scientist, she merges her expertise in marine ecology, fishery sciences, social sciences, and anthropology to unravel the intricate dynamics of marine social-ecological systems. With a profound commitment to environmental justice, Lili’s research revolves around small-scale fisheries and aquaculture.
Jose Ramon Becerra Vera
Jose Ramon Becerra Vera is a PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology at Purdue University, working in the Farmer Learning, Agriculture, Culture, Humanities, and Social science laboratory. He specializes in the political ecology of pollution, uneven exposure, and environmental and climate justice. Currently a National Geographic Explorer, he collects dissertation field data with citizen scientists in Southern California’s Inland Empire, examining uneven exposure to wildfire smoke and logistics transportation pollution.
Pradnya Garud, PhD, MS
Pradnya Garud is an environmental health data equity strategist for the Oregon Health Authority in the Data and Epidemiology Unit. Pradnya completed a Ph.D. in geography from the School of Geography, Development & Environment at the University of Arizona and received a Master of Science in Environmental Sciences from Mumbai University. Her scholarly work has engaged with human and environmental relationships, and her research interests include social movements, political ecology, and environmental justice.
Greer Hamilton, PhD, MSW
Greer Hamilton (she/her/hers) is a Transitional Postdoctoral Fellow and incoming Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan School of Social Work. Her research interests focus on exploring how systems of oppression inform and shape the urban built environment and people’s relationship to places of meaning (e.g., neighborhoods).
Nsilo Berry, MS
Nsilo Berry is Health Impact Researcher for Healthy Building Network, where he works to research the health associated outcomes of building products in historically marginalized communities, as well as the environment. Previously, Nsilo worked with nonprofit organizations such as Global Health Brigades and Power-Up Gambia, where he was responsible for sustainable health projects in Central America and Africa.
Marissa Chan, MS
Marissa Chan is an Afro-Caribbean and Chinese PhD student in Population Health Sciences within the Department of Environmental Health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Her research interests and work experience surround environmental justice and beauty justice, specifically focusing on the intersection of place-based environmental hazards and product-based exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in personal care products.
Sabah Usmani, MCP
Sabah Usmani is an PhD student in the Climate and Health Program at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. She is an urban planner and interdisciplinary researcher from India with experience across geographic scales in air pollution and health disparities, transportation, energy and water, and climate mitigation and adaptation planning in India, USA, Ecuador, and Malaysia.
Carolyn E. Ramírez, PhD
Carolyn E. Ramírez completed their Ph.D. in chemical engineering at Northwestern University in June of 2022. They studied physical organic chemistry in graduate school, focusing on nonlinear spectroscopy of artificial photosynthetic compounds for use in solar cells.
Kevin P. Patterson, MPH
Kevin is an incoming Diné PhD student in Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. His research investigates the distribution of metal exposures (uranium, arsenic, etc.) in groundwater and diet across US indigenous communities and their relationship with related health outcomes.
Lisbeth Iglesias-Rios, PhD, MPH, MA
Dr. Iglesias-Ríos’s research interests are the intersection of environmental and occupational health with precarious employment and labor exploitation in vulnerable populations. Her previous research assessed the impact of labor trafficking by studying how patterns of violence and coercion affect the mental health of female and male trafficking survivors including children, adolescents and adults.
Candis M. Hunter, PhD, MSPH, REHS
Dr. Candis M. Hunter is an Environmental Health Scientist with research interests in environmental justice, food accessibility, community engagement, implementation science, and children’s health to advance health equity and multisector partnerships. She received her BS in Chemistry from Spelman College and her MSPH with a dual concentration in Environmental & Occupational Health and Epidemiology from Emory University Rollins School of Public Health.
JoRee LaFrance
JoRee LaFrance – also known as Iichiinmáatchileesh/Fortunate with Horses – comes from the Apsáalooke/Crow Nation located in southeastern Montana. She holds a B.A. in Earth Sciences and Native American Studies from Dartmouth College and is now a doctoral student in the Department of Environmental Science at the University of Arizona.