Viviana Oquendo

Viviana Oquendo is a Columbian Fulbright grantee. She completed her Ph.D. in Public Policy at Oregon State University. She worked as an MSc in Economic Sciences, supporting several areas of public policy, until her personal life unveiled her passion for peacebuilding and rural welfare. Her dissertation focused on how rural development can promote a culture of peace in countries that are overcoming civil war (such as her own home country). She acknowledges how public policy has influenced her life, so she wants to serve as a policy analyst for peacebuilding purposes.

Virginia Dee Montier-Burke

Virginia Dee Montier-Burke, “Dee”, graduated from OSU with a Master of Natural Resources in 2023. She completed a BS in Marine Biology from Texas A&M in 2010. Prior to joining OSU, she worked as a contractor to NOAA as a North Pacific Groundfish observer, assigned to the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands. After four years at sea, she found a shore side job as a Water and Wastewater Laboratory Manager. In her spare time, she can be found hanging out with her dog, Tonks, or reading a good book.

Matthew Mauriello

Matthew Mauriello was a postdoctoral scholar at Oregon State University and Stanford University. He contributed to the NSF-funded Smart & Connected Kids for Sustainable Energy Communities project. He graduated with a PhD in Human-Computer Interaction from the University of Maryland. He went on to a faculty position at University of Delaware.

Hilary Boudet

Hilary Boudet

Hilary Boudet is Professor and Director of Graduate Programs at the School of Public Policy at Oregon State University. She teaches courses on energy and society, social movements, policy theory and research methods. Her research interests include environmental and energy policy, natural resource sociology, social movements, and public participation in energy and environmental decision-making. She has published two books and over 40 peer-reviewed journal articles on these topics, securing over $4.7 million in research grants from the National Science Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, and U.S. Department of Energy.

Before joining the faculty at Oregon State University, Hilary was a Postdoctoral Scholar at Stanford University, where she managed a community-based intervention with 30 Girl Scout troops aimed at reducing household energy use. She completed her dissertation at Stanford’s Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources on the factors and processes shaping community opposition to energy development. She holds a BA in Environmental Engineering and Political Science from Rice University.

When she is not working, you can find Hilary hanging out with her family – Remi (13), Arnaud (10), Alex (10) and Julien (young at heart).

Rachel Mooney

Rachel Mooney graduated from University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire with her BSc in Chemistry where she conducted research on atmospheric and physical chemistry. She completed her Master of Public Policy degree in 2021, analyzing public perceptions of LNG export in the Pacific Northwest. She went on to a position as an Analytical Associate at the Climate Action Reserve.

Heather Moline

Heather Moline completed her Master of Public Policy at OSU in 2019. Her essay explored the perspectives of 4th and 5th graders in Fremont, California, and Corvallis, Oregon, on their household energy use as part of the Smart and Connected Kids for Sustainable Energy Communities Project. She went on to a position as an energy and environmental justice policy associate at the Northwest Energy Coalition.

Julia Bingham headshot

Julia Bingham

Julia Bingham is an interdisciplinary marine social scientist interested in knowledge, values, equity, and power in coastal governance and management, especially in fisheries and fishing dependent communities. She primarily approaches her work through critical and feminist informed geographies, science & technology studies, political ecology, and sociology. She is currently a postdoctoral scholar at Oregon State University supporting research on human dimensions of offshore wind development, focusing on community benefits and impacts.

Warda Ajaz

Warda Ajaz completed her PhD in Public Policy at OSU in 2019. She went on to an Assistant Professor in the Department of Energy System Engineering at the National University of Sciences and Technology in Pakistan. Her PhD research focused on the socio-technical transition toward microgrids and other decentralized energy systems.

Stephen Naimoli

Stephen Naimoli graduated from OSU with a Master of Public Policy in 2016. His chief interest is in energy policy, and he studied opposition to utility-scale wind power in Kittitas County, Washington. Before coming to OSU, he worked for various environmental groups on the East Coast. He went on to a research associate position in the energy and national security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Umama Rahman

Umama was born and raised in Dhaka, Bangladesh, one of the most densely populated cities in the world. She completed her Bachelor of Science in Economics from North South University in Bangladesh and her Master in Agricultural and Resource Economics with a minor in Statistics at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. After her master’s, she went back to Bangladesh and worked as a lecturer at North South University. Her research areas are Energy Policy and Energy Economics. For her PhD in Public Policy, she is working with Hilary on projects related to public perceptions of offshore wind and lithium mining. In her free time, she watches movies, reads, tries new foods, spends time with family and friends, and enjoys nature.