Titles

• PhD Candidate, Sustainable Energy, School of Sustainability

Biography

I am a PhD candidate in Sustainable Energy who wants to understand how participation occurs in efforts that help us transit towards a just, decentralized, and low-carbon energy system. I have been studying the concept of participation in academic literature to develop systematic methods of analysis and frameworks to shed light on procedural justice issues in local just transition efforts that aim to mitigate energy poverty, reduce energy consumption, recognize/account for historical oppression, and leave no one behind.

I explore the process of energy participation in two different efforts:

1. The Georgetown University Energy Prize, a US competition that encouraged participants to implement energy efficiency and reduce the consumption of gas and electricity at municipal and residential levels. 
2. Experiences with solar photovoltaic (PV) projects. From my positionality as a Chabochi-Mestize-Mexicane and Reseracher, I established a dialogue with Ralámuli communities in the Sierra Madre Occidental (SMO) in the state of Chihuahua in México. I conducted 63 interviews and three months of fieldwork to understand user experiences in solar projects led by (1) the state and municipal government, <2)civil society organizations, (3) federal policy where private companies, who won the biddings, are now executing the programs, and (4) a gas pipeline consultation conducted during July 2014 and March 2015. I am identifying the elements in solar PV projects that received greater user acceptance and satisfaction ratings through a 1-5 Likert scale that assessed how agusto/happy users felt with their solar PV module and a Yes/No question that asked whether users would get the same solar program once again. I also intend to explore the elements in solar PV systems with a longer length of use. This project is identifying experiences, benefits, and obstacles that solar PV users and program managers faced as they grant/get electricity access to remote communities in the SMO.

As a summary, I review literature to create analytical tools to qualitatively understand the role of participation in energy transitions. I apply these instruments to explore how the process of participation may influence greater energy savings in the US, and how participation and project design of solar PV programs may influence greater user acceptance and satisfaction of solar PV technologies in SMO Chihuahua México. 

Teaching Assistant Experience

• During 2011 I taught English in a private high school in Creel, Chihuahua, Mexico.

Research Assistant Experience

• I have transcribed focus group sessions with Spanish and English-speaking participants who were part of a participatory action research project. This project was part of the Department of English at ASU.
• Additionally, I have been part of re-engineering where I designed and implemented a qualitative data analysis method in Excel. This method has allowed the research team to systematically analyze the data developed during t the Georgetown University Energy Prize (GUEP). Specifically, we are investigating how community leaders, institutions and organizations engaged with the public to implement energy efficiency and decrease the consumption of gas and electricity in the residential and municipal sectors.

Spoken Languages:

Spanish (native speaker); French (beginner)

Education

• MA, Social and Cultural Pedegogy, Arizona State University, 2017
• Licenciatura en Relaciones Multiculturales, Cultural AnthropologyBusiness/Education, Fundación Universidad de las Américas Puebla, 2010

Expertise

• climate change
• vulnerability
• climate change and adaptation
• climate change mitigation
• resilience
• community development
• organizing
• education
• energy
• nonprofit organizations
• policy and governance
• social/behavioral change

External Links

• Website