Research Assistants

BENAZIR BAIG

A lover of new cities, Benazir flew across continents, to be a part of the vibrant New York City. There she attends the media studies program at the new school.
Benazir earlier was based out of Mumbai, the hub of Hindi Cinema. She worked as an Assistant Director for National Geographic's biopic series called Mega Icons. After this she continued working as an assistant director for a series of Bollywood films.

While in NYC, she is building herself as a writer and an artist. She is interested in piecing together the mundane sweet nothings she encounters into a story that can find resonance with the world. Any story ever told carries with it a political message. She believes all storytellers have an incredible responsibility to move away from eschewed representation to a more real, humane and inclusive one!

JUAN DAVID RODRIGUEZ CASTELLANOS

Juan is a student in the MS in Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management program at The New School. His interests include the convergence of energy transition, sustainability, and environmental justice, as well as alternatives that promote energy access and energy justice with a social approach. He holds a dual Bachelor's degree in chemical engineering and petroleum engineering from the University of America in Bogota, Colombia.

MOLLY GREENBERG, MSW

Molly Greenberg is a research fellow with the Tishman Environment and Design Center. She is a full-time Ph.D. Candidate in the Public and Urban Policy program at the New School’s Milano School for International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy. She has a broad research interests include scholar activists; social movements, the environmental justice movement and gender justice.  Her dissertation research will focus on the role of scholar activists and in engaging the environmental justice movement on the issue of gender as represented and defined by the academy and by the social movements themselves. Molly has over 7 years of environmental justice policy and advocacy work at Ironbound Community Corporation in Newark, NJ. She received her Master’s in Social Work as part of the International Community Development from Monmouth University in 2010.

TIAN-TIAN HE

Tian-Tian He is an MA student in International Affairs at the New School. She holds a B.A. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Rice University, and her main interests are in the intersection of environmental and gender studies, global supply chains, and craft. At the Tishman Center, she works in both research and communications and hopes to help bring TEDC research to a wider audience through design.

CARLY NICOLE SANCHEZ

Carly Nicole Sanchez is a Research Assistant with the Tishman Environment and Design Center. She was raised in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles by her Honduran father and Mexican mother along with her two sisters, but has travelled around the world with her family throughout her life. Her exposure to different regions and cultures led her to achieve a BA in Environmental Studies. She is currently pursuing an MS in Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management at The New School - Milano.

She has a professional background in the natural and environmental sciences as a research assistant to various projects such as the Small Mammal Undergraduate Research in the Forest (SMURF) Program at UC Santa Cruz, Rick Ostfeld’s Tick Project at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, and the SUPERDAR program guided by Stacy Philpott where Carly co-authored Social Context Influence on Urban Gardener Perceptions of Pests and Management Practices. Carly is now involved in research and organizing that promotes Environmental Justice and Community Building through an interdisciplinary approach that can mitigate direct and indirect consequences of the climate crisis. She works to highlight creative ways in which access to resources, education, and self-determination are being redirected to frontline communities and grassroot organizations.

AZRA TANOVIĆ

Azra Tanović is a full-time PhD student in the Public and Urban Policy program at The New School’s Milano School of Policy, Management, and Environment and a Research Fellow with the Tishman Center of Environment and Design.

Azra is a multi-disciplinary sustainability professional with a Master of Science in Environmental and Water Resources Engineering (Civil and Environmental Engineering) from Tufts University and Bachelor of Arts degrees in Psychology and Spanish Language and Literature from the University of Miami. Since completing her Master's degree, Azra has worked as a consultant with numerous NGOs/IGOs on various international climate change adaptation and water security projects, with a particular focus on the Western Balkans, Equatorial Africa and Latin America.  As a student of past conflicts and the child of Bosnian refugees, Azra is particularly interested in the nexus of climate change, global conflict, and displacement, and understanding how climate change will impact global (in)security in the coming decades, although she is also interested in climate security, resilience, and justice in a broader sense; she hopes to further explore these research interests during her doctoral studies at The New School. At the Tishman Center, Azra works with the NYC Panel on Climate Change (NPCC) to formulate metrics that can be used to study climate justice and, more specifically, to measure and identify areas facing intersecting risks of climate change risk and displacement in New York City.

ENRIQUE VALENCIA

Enrique (he/him) is an MS in International Affairs student focusing on environmental sustainability issues. His research interests include global grassroots climate justice solidarity and community-engaged research that can benefit local and transnational organizing. Prior to attending The New School, Enrique worked as a grassroots organizer where he facilitated community power building for economic, immigrant, and education justice. From 2018-2020, he directed Orange County Environmental Justice (OCEJ) in Orange County, CA, where he developed the organization’s capacity to fight for soil lead (Pb) remediation and to conduct water pollution monitoring. At OCEJ, he partnered with a local university for environmental testing and this experience motivated him to pursue scholarship that is in service to environmental and climate justice movements. Enrique is conducting an independent research project that evaluates the implementation of an environmental justice planning mandate in Santa Ana, CA and will present his findings at the upcoming American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting. He is excited to work as a research assistant to Dr. Ana Baptista and to support broader TEDC projects.

MARIA FERNANDA PULIDO-VELOSA

Maria Fernanda Pulido-Velosa is a  scientist, artist, and poet. She currently works at the Tishman Environment & Design Center in New York City advancing research projects at the nexus of social justice, environmental issues, design, and policy.  Maria Fernanda holds a B.S in Environmental Studies, a B.A in International Relations and is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management at The New School. Her main interests are in environmental justice, and indigenous and gender studies.

In past years, Maria Fernanda worked as Associate Researcher with the UNESCO Chair on Sustainable Water Security at Florida International University (FIU), leading an investigation about the participation of women in water management in rural areas of Colombia, her native country. She also worked managing communications and creative initiatives for citizen science projects in the Amazon Basin and writing and administering large grants for the FIU Institute of Environment.  Her experience also includes short-term projects with the United Sates Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

JENNIFER VENTRELLA

Jen Ventrella is a PhD student in the Public and Urban Policy program at the New School. She is interested in studying the politics of climate change adaptation strategies and the effects of climate-induced migration on livelihoods. She holds a dual Master's degree in mechanical engineering and applied anthropology from Oregon State University.

JAZMIN VILLEGAS

Jazmin Villegas is an MS student in the Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management program. She holds a BS in Environmental Engineering with a minor in Women's and Gender Studies from Texas Tech University, her area of interest is applying spiritual ecofeminism and disability theory to the psychology of the urban environment. At the Tishman Center, she is a part of the Futures and Transitions writing team for the NPCC4 assisting in topics relating to resiliency and future infrastructure adaptation to climate change.