Kelli Wright graduated in 2017 with a minor in Environmental Systems and Society. Through IoES, she conducted research on behalf of The Bay Foundation to study the feasibility of kelp forests to mitigate the effects of ocean acidification for marine species in Santa Monica Bay. She currently works at The Climate Registry (TCR) in Los Angeles where she manages the membership base for TCR’s Voluntary Reporting Program. She provides individual support to members building their greenhouse gas inventories in order to measure their carbon footprint. Kelli is from San Diego and enjoys backpacking and running.

Kyle Graycar graduated in 2014 with an Environmental Science major and minors in Environmental Systems and Society and Chinese Language Arts and Culture. Kyle spent two years after graduating teaching English in China’s Yunnan province. He currently works as Head of Marketing at Pick My Solar, a solar web startup at the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator, and is passionate about finding business solutions to climate change. Kyle’s from the SF Bay Area and enjoys rock climbing and Japanese taiko drumming.

Brianna Lawrence was part of UCLA’s graduating class of 2012. She currently works for an IoES instructor, Cliff Gladstein, as a Senior Associate at Gladstein, Neandross & Associates (GNA). In her role at GNA, Brianna prepares grant applications for advanced transportation technologies and clean energy projects that improve air quality throughout the nation, particularly in some of the U.S.’s most disadvantaged communities. Prior to GNA, Brianna received her MPA and worked in Las Vegas as a philanthropy consultant. She is a California native and enjoys playing beach volleyball and training for triathlons.

Margaret Rubens graduated with her B.S. in Environmental Science from UCLA IoES in 2017. She went on to attend graduate school at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and will receive her M.P.H. in Toxicology in May 2019. Ms. Rubens’s research focuses on the emerging public health concerns surrounding per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance contamination (PFAS) and the toxicological effects of environmental chemical exposures during pregnancy. Her career plans involve continuing to work in environmental health sciences and toxicological consulting. Ms. Rubens works as an Event Planner and Regional Coordinator for the UCLA Environmental Science Association.

While a San Francisco Bay Area native, as an undergraduate, Nicole studied political science and Hispanic studies at Pepperdine University, earning honors in political science for her thesis analyzing the gendering of women of color politicians in the United States through new media. Nicole joined UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs with the intention of deepening her quantitative, technical, and applied policy skills in order to improve the health of humans around the globe and the environments in which we all live. In pursuit of her Masters in Public Policy, Nicole is particularly interested in how governments, from local agencies to federal bodies, can craft and implement more effective and efficient environmental and health policies that improve the social, political, economic, and physical welfare of the public. She is currently fulfilling a year-long internship with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which regulates and insures commercial banks, ensuring financial security for independent depositors and businesses across the United States. Outside of school, Nicole loves cooking and seeing new places, and she always tries to make time in her schedule to appreciate independent films, Disney, and K-Pop.

Ankhet Holmes is a second year master’s student in public policy at UCLA’s Luskin School for Public Affairs. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College in Geography, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, and International Studies. As a recipient of the Thomas R. Pickering Undergraduate Fellowship, Ankhet will spend five years as a Foreign Service Officer after completing her master’s degree. As part of that fellowship, Ankhet spent the past summer in Morocco working in public diplomacy and information at the US Embassy in Rabat. Ankhet’s interest in international affairs began after spending her junior year of high school in Jakarta, Indonesia as an exchange student through the State Department sponsored YES Abroad scholarship. During her time at Dartmouth, Ankhet studied women and gender studies and Indian history in Hyderabad, India for three months on a foreign study program. With a Dartmouth fellowship, she returned to Indonesia to work for three months at The United States – Indonesia Society (USINDO), the premier NGO focused on diplomacy between the two nations. Ankhet’s professional interests are in public diplomacy, international organizations, and human rights. At UCLA, Ankhet is a program manager for the Global Public Affairs program and an Advocacy co-chair for Policy Professionals for Diversity and Equity. In her free time, she is an avid patron of the arts – watching films, reading books, taking art classes, and writing. Ankhet calls Los Angeles, California home.

Emilie Tarouilly is a second year PhD student in Civil & Environmental Engineering. Her research focuses on the changing hydrology of the western US (she is currently investigating causes of major floods events, in particular rain-on-snow) with applications in water management. Emilie’s interest in natural resources (she obtained her BSc in Ecology at Imperial College, London) is centered on hydrology & water resources engineering. She has worked in multiple roles in the water industry, including distribution networks operation, water treatment process modelling, and water resources management at Thames Water (London’s water company). Emilie came to UCLA out of interest for the complexity of the water system in California (e.g. snow driven hydrology, reliance on imported water) and the need, in this context, to take a multidisciplinary approach that applies both environmental science and engineering to water management.

Laura is a second-year juris doctor candidate at the UCLA School of Law pursuing a specialization in environmental law.  As the daughter of a third generation California farmer, availability and quality of water for crops and rural home use has been a familial concern for decades. Laura’s current interest is in the effects and future litigation of California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.  This year, she will be writing her legal research thesis in conjunction with UCLA Law’s water law seminar.  This summer, Laura will work as a summer associate in the natural resources department of a law firm, focusing on water law.