Omar Pérez-Figueroa is a second-year doctoral student in the Urban Planning & Public Policy Program at the University of California, Irvine. Omar graduated cum laude in 2010 with a B.A in Social Sciences from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras. He poses a master’s degree in Water, Interdisciplinary Analysis and Sustainable Management from the Universitat de Barcelona, Spain. He has worked with local, federal and international governments as well as private corporations at various levels. His research interests are focused in understanding how grassroots movements and underrepresented communities’ deal with environmental inequities, with a special focus on water issues. He is a 2011 Truman Foundation Fellow. Additionally, he has employed science communication skills to present his research to a wide audience. His most recent project focuses on how social networks can be used as a model to reduce communities’ vulnerability to environmental hazards such as floods and hurricanes from an environmental justice perspective.
