María looks to grow community by increasing the number of organizations using behavior-centered design tools in their sustainability initiatives. Most recently, she completed her master’s work at the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability, where she studied Ecuadorian artisanal fishers’ perspectives on ocean conservation (read it here!). Before that, María worked for a variety of environmental non-profits in the Chicago-land area as a communications and community outreach associate.
María holds a master’s degree in Behavior, Education and Communication and Ecosystem Science and Management from the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability and a bachelor’s degree in Cognitive Neuroscience from Washington University in St. Louis.
She is located in D.C. and spends an inordinate amount of her free time birding, dreaming about sea turtles and scuba diving, playing with her rescue cat Paco and reading nature books. You can follow her adventures on Instagram at @GoGreenForTheOcean. She is a firm believer that birds are a gateway to learning more about the natural world, and hopes that more people will take up birding as a way of connecting with the ecosystems around them (and in turn, caring for those ecosystems more deeply).