Research Group

graduate students

Primary Mentee Members

Valeria Cuevas

 Valeria Cuevas (she/her) is an incoming PhD student (Fall 2026) at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is a recently graduated transfer student from the UCSC Environmental Studies department with a concentration in Conservation Science and Policy. As an undergraduate, Valeria was 2024/2025 Building Belonging Fellow and a 2024 Earth Futures Frontiers Fellow. She co-authored two focal projects in the Jinnah Lab that examined global perspectives on climate geoengineering technologies, one of which doubled as a first-authored publication and a Senior Thesis that was awarded Senior Comprehensive Honors. In addition to her work is social science, Valeria has varied research and field work experience in ecology with a focus on mammals. She completed a Senior Thesis with the UC Natural Reserve system examining mammal space use and has since been employed by the reserves to assist in wildlife monitoring. Her current work also includes assisting in socio-ecological research with the UCSC Conservation Ecology Lab and working for the UCSC Center for Reimagining Leadership. During her time at UCSC's ENVS PhD program, Valeria aspires to pursue research that is at the intersection of wildlife conservation and environmental justice. With goals to support equitable human-wildlife coexistence, she  aims to emphasize community engagement and collaboration in wildlife management & conservation. 

Learn more about Valeria here.

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Delaney pues

Delaney Pues (she/they) is a PhD student and Cota-Robles Fellow at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Before beginning their doctoral studies, Delaney worked in the nonprofit sector on the environmental justice implications of emerging climate interventions. They have spoken at leading institutions through lectures, panels, and roundtables on the role of justice in carbon dioxide removal (CDR), and have advised organizations including Carbon180, the Carbon Business Council, and the U.S. Department of Energy on the responsible deployment of carbon removal. Delaney’s research explores the social and political dimensions of CDR, with a focus on what justice means for marginalized communities and how it can be advanced through public and community engagement. Through this work, they aim to help shape climate solutions that not only mitigate carbon emissions but also address systemic inequities and ensure more just outcomes for frontline communities.

Brook Thompson

Brook Thompson is from the Yurok and Karuk Tribes of Northern California. Brook is a Ph.D. student, scientist, engineer, author, activist, and artist. Growing up Brook spent her time fishing for salmon on the Klamath River like her ancestors before her when she witnessing the heart-breaking 2002 fish kill, the largest fish kill in West Coast history. The death of tens of thousand salmon is what has motivated her career in water engineering and activism. In 2020 Brook graduated Portland State University's Honors College with a bachelor of science in civil engineering with a minor in political science, in 2022 she received a master’s in environmental engineering from Stanford University with a focus in water resources and hydrology.  Brook now attends UC Santa Cruz working on her Ph.D. in environmental studies with a designated emphasis in Coastal Science and Policy where she researches Spring Chinook Salmon and Restoration in the Klamath River with interdisciplinary social science, natural science, and policy methodology. While attending university full time over the last decade she has also interned at the Yurok Tribe, the City of Portland, the United States Senate, the California State Water Resource Control Board, a current board member of Save California Salmon, and is an international public speaker. Among other accolades Brook is a 2024 NDN Collective Change Maker, a 2023 Ford Foundation Fellow, a 2022 Native Journalism Award Winner, a 2020 United National Indian Tribal Youth 25 Under 25 Recipient, was the 2017 Undergraduate American Indian Graduate Center Student of the Year, and a Gates Millennium Scholar. In 2025 her Children's Book about her life titled, "I Love Salmon and Lampreys" was published. ​Thompson’s goal is to uplift the nexus of Native American knowledge, engineering, public policy, and social action to transform how water rights, restoration, education, and climate change are approached at the local and international levels. 
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Learn more about Brook here

Other Graduate Members

Essac mazengia

Esaac is a first-year PhD student within the Environmental Studies department looking at the socioecological, governance, and justice implications of off-shore wind development within California. Applying a Just Transitions framework to this proposed large-scale deployment, Esaac explores the alternative energy governance futures and community imaginaries that they generate. Ultimately, seeking to better understand how a more environmentally just future for California can be built and powered.

Lily hinojoza

Lily Hinojoza's general research interest lies in the use of computational models for exploring environmental challenges. Her current projects focus on organic waste flows throughout California, with special attention to the demands of California Senate Bill 1383 and the potential of community composting to help meet those demands while enhancing food access. She also studies the impact of compost on carbon and nitrogen stores in agricultural systems. You can contact Lily at [email protected]

undergraduate students

Elise Weir

Elise Weir is a current undergraduate student in the Environmental Studies department pursuing a concentration in Global Environmental Justice and a minor in Legal Studies. Her current projects focus on developing curriculum on climate and ocean justice for residents of Southern Santa Cruz County. She is also a 2025 Frontiers Fellow and a member of the 2025 Lamat cohort. 

Post-doc Students

                                                                                                        anna bridel

                                                                                                                                                                  coming soon

sidney madsen

Sidney Madsen is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Climate Justice and Community Engagement, a position created in partnership with the Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County (CAB) and the Center for Reimagining Leadership. In this role, she is co-designing research with CAB to inform the theory and practice of addressing climate resilience and climate justice for farmworkers and their communities. This project builds on her background using participatory methods to study the social and environmental sustainability of food systems. Her previous research has explored how grassroots agroecology interventions impact working conditions, food security, and incomes in agricultural communities of Mexico, Guatemala, and Malawi. She can be contacted at her email address: [email protected]

Recent graduates

Zachary Dove

Dr. Zachary Dove is currently a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Center for Reimagining Leadership at the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) as well as a Research Fellow at The Alliance for Just Deliberation on Solar Geoengineering (DSG). He is a scholar of Global Environmental Politics, with a focus on climate change and emerging technologies. Dr. Dove received his PhD in Politics at UCSC in 2025 with honors. His dissertation explored the politics of societal engagement in the governance of research into emerging climate intervention technologies. Using solar geoengineering research as a case, his dissertation research leveraged original empirical analysis, theoretical insights, and novel conceptual and analytical tools to explain how public engagement can function as a form of governance, a phenomenon he calls ‘governance by engagement’. In September 2025, Dr. Dove will start as a Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy where his research will develop an integrative framework to gauge public acceptance of carbon removal. Dr Dove’s research is motivated to support robust and inclusive assessment and governance processes for emerging technologies by informing how researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners approach societal engagement. He received a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies and Political Science (with honors) in 2016 from Western Washington University and an MA in Politics (with honors) in 2023 from UCSC. His research has been published in several journals, including Sustainability, Environmental Science: Atmospheres, Energy Research and Social Science, Futures, Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, and World Trade Review. He also has a co-first-authored book under contract with Cambridge University Press. His personal website can be found at zacharydove.com