Nicola Ulibarri
Assistant Professor
Department of Urban Planning and Public Policy
University of California, Irvine
206B Social Ecology I
Irvine, CA 92697
(949) 824-6484
ulibarri@uci.edu
Nicola Ulibarri is an interdisciplinary scholar who uses political, social, and technical perspectives to evaluate the sustainability of environmental planning and decision-making practices. She investigates the interaction between people, infrastructure, and the environment, with a focus on redesigning planning, permitting, and operations to meet more diverse social and environmental needs. She earned her PhD through the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment & Resources at Stanford University, and spent a year as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Bill Lane Center for the American West at Stanford University. Her professional life has spanned the public and non-profit sectors, including work with the US Department of the Interior (Region IX), the World Bank, and Amigos Bravos, a grassroots river-protection nonprofit in New Mexico.
Graduate Student Advisees
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Omar Pérez Figueroa (PhD student, Urban and Environmental Planning and Policy) BA Social Sciences, University of Puerto Rico; MS Water. Interdisciplinary Analysis & Sustainable Management, University of Barcelona Research interests: Environmental hazards, environmental justice, the Caribbean |
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Claudia Valencia (PhD student, Urban and Environmental Planning and Policy) BA Political Science, BS Economics, Cal Poly Pomona; MPP UC Irvine Research interests: Water governance, collaborative water resource management, indigenous communities |
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Jie Wang (PhD student, Urban and Environmental Planning and Policy) LLB Public Administration, Fudan University; MPA Tsinghua University; MPA University of Washington Research interests: Collaborative governance, water policy, China |
Research Assistants
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Nataly Escobedo Garcia (PhD student, Social Ecology) BA Latin American and Latino/a Studies, UC Santa Cruz; MA Sociocultural Anthropology, CSU Los Angeles Research Interests: Water rights, human rights, and politics in California farmworker communities |
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David Han (High school intern) Research interests: attachment theory, water governance, water policy, marine ecology, climate change |
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Janette Hernandez (BA student, Environmental Science & Policy) Research Interests: contemporary environmental challenges, effective environmental management, formulation of environmental policy, policy process, sustainability |
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Clarissa Picket (Post-bac researcher) BS Environmental Science, Policy & Management, UC Berkeley Research Interests: Coastal governance, climate adaptation, social ecology |
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Sara Ro (BA student, Psychology) Research Interests: Human behavior, human relationships, forensic psychology, cultural anthropology, and industrial organizational psychology |
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Susana Rodriguez Guerra (BA student, Psychology) Research Interests: Water resources, social and environmental differences and inequalities, stereotyping and prejudice
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Lab Alumni
| Name | Degree/Role | Years in Group | Last known position |
| Gissel Enriquez | BA Urban Studies, BS Earth System Science | 2016-18 | MURP student, CalPoly Pomona |
| Kevin Steve Tellez | BA Urban Studies | 2016-17 | MA Urban & Public Affairs student, U San Francisco |
| Cherry Yip | MPP | 2017 | Program Coordinator, Civic & Community Engagement Minor, UCI |