Assistant Professor, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington
Francisca Santana is the John C. Garcia Assistant Professor in the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences at the University of Washington. She previously was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the School of Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan. She studies the social and psychological processes underpinning conservation and adaptation behavior of individuals and communities. Her research investigates conservation behavior in a coral reef environment on Maui, Hawaiʻi, the social nature of wildfire smoke adaptation decisions, and coastal community resilience and climate adaptation in southeastern Louisiana. Many of her projects are collaborative and community-engaged, grounding her research in place-based needs and partnering with local and Indigenous groups on issues of conservation practice and climate justice. Before her doctoral studies at Stanford, Francisca worked on air quality, coastal pollution, and marine policy issues in the nonprofit and government sectors. She received a master's degree in environmental science and management from UC Santa Barbara and a BA in history from Yale University.