Sandy is a Ph.D. candidate in economics and environmental science at the Bren School. Her research investigates how environmental change and policies shape and are shaped by patterns of social and economic inequalities. Her recent projects have been centered on equity issues arising from water scarcity in California. Prior to joining UCSB, she was a Research Analyst at the Global Policy Lab at UC Berkeley, where she helped develop quantitative approaches for valuing natural capital for the sustainable development of Māori land in New Zealand. Sandy holds an MA in Economics from UCSB and a BA in Economics from the National University of Singapore.

San Juanita García is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Juanita’s broad research interests are: immigration, Latinx sociology, social determinants of health, sociology of mental health, intersectionality, and aging. Her research explores how a deportation regime and racialization practices embedded in an anti-immigrant climate and social institutions fuel discrimination and their impacts on the stress and mental health of Mexican-origin women. 

Kristine Joy Chua is a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Anthropology at UCSB and earned her Ph.D. in Biological Anthropology from UCLA. Her research combines evolutionary and biocultural anthropology perspectives to understand how chronic stress “gets under the skin” during pregnancy. She utilizes methods from anthropology, biology, and public health to explore the social and biological factors that create and sustain peri- and postnatal inequities and the role that cultural practices play in shaping health norms. She works closely with pregnant Filipina mothers in the Philippines and pregnant mothers in Southern California. Current research questions include: (1) how does the maternal immune system respond to fetal cells circulating throughout pregnancy (co-director: Amy Boddy); (2) how do pregnant Filipina mothers respond to stress from their socio-political environment; (3) how are definitions of stress and coping mechanisms impacted by cultural attitudes; and (4) what conditions could preterm birth be an adaptive response for mothers. In addition to her academic work, she maintains her commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion through undergraduate mentorship, partnerships with K-12 educators, and collaborations with community stakeholders.

Noosha Uddin is a PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science. Her research interests include labor migration, citizenship, and energy politics in the Persian Gulf, and her dissertation examines the interplay of drivers at the migrant, state, and international levels that lead to substantial reform of the region’s guest worker-sponsorship system (kafala, in Arabic). Noosha also has research experience in energy and environmental security and in political and economic implications to national energy transitions. In addition to her affiliation with the Broom Center, Noosha is a graduate assistant of the Energy Governance and Political Economy (EGAPE) Lab at UCSB as part of the institution’s 2035 Initiative, and a member of the Center for Middle East Studies (CMES).