People

Jointly housed by the Office of The Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning and the School of Social Ecology, the UCI Blum Center for Poverty Alleviation brings together students, staff, faculty and practitioners from across disciplines.

Our core team includes faculty conducting innovative research and teaching impactful courses, undergraduate and graduate students helming projects and developing leadership skills, staff members designing and implementing robust programs, and prominent visiting scholars who bring vision and expertise.

Richard Matthew
Faculty Director
   rmatthew@uci.edu
   Google Scholar
Administrative Director
Paul Piff
Associate Director & Research Lead, Compassion Program
   Google Scholar
Project Policy Analyst
Michael Dennin
Vice Provost for Teaching & Learning
   OVPTL Website
Nancy Guerra
Professor
Global Service Scholars
   Faculty Website
Brett Sanders
Research Lead
Climate Extremes Modeling
   Google Scholar
Amir AghaKouchak
Climate Extremes Modeling
   Google Scholar
Doug Colby
Senior Director of Development, Social Ecology
   dccolby@uci.edu
Susan Bibler Coutin
Pandemic Histories Archive
   Google Scholar
Mimi Cruz
Social Ecology Communications
   mkcruz@uci.edu
Steven Davis
Flood Research
   Google Scholar
Janet DiVincenzo
Instructional Design
Fernando Gonzalez
Director of Finance
Iain Grainger
Media & Communications
Joy Jia
WordPress Coordinator
Michelle Mallen
Director of Civic Engagement
   cceminor@uci.edu
Matt Princetta
Director of Development, OVPTL
   mprincet@uci.edu
Jochen Schubert
Drones & Modeling
   Google Scholar
Kirk Williams
Social Ecology
   Google Scholar
Pia Dietze
Compassion Program
   Google Scholar
Angela Robinson
Compassion Program
   Google Scholar
Connor Harron
Site Liaison
Kristen Goodrich
Site Liaison
   Google Scholar

VISITING SCHOLARS

Martín Burt
Distinguished Visiting Scholar
Siddharth Kara
Distinguished Visiting Scholar
James Orbinski
Distinguished Visiting Scholar
Bishnu Upreti
Distinguished Visiting Scholar
Michael Uwemedimo
Distinguished Visiting Scholar
Petna Ndaliko
Distinguished Visiting Scholar

GRADUATE RESEARCH AFFILIATES

Vivianna Goh
Graduate Student
Pandemic Histories Archive
Stephanie Martinez
Graduate Student

UNDERGRADUATES & INTERNS

Sasha Tesoro
Student Assistant, 2021
Kyra Trinh
Student Assistant, 2019-2021
Anta Diagne
Research Assistant, 2022-2023
Carolina Mendoza
Research Assistant, 2022-2023
Cynthia Marquez
Research Assistant, 2022-2023
Photo of Heather against a background of trees.
Heather Wi
Research Assistant, 2022-2023
Photo of Kayla with shoulder length dark hair and a black and white patterned top, with arms folded.
Kayla Villon
Research Assistant, 2022-2023
Liam McCarthy
Research Assistant, 2022-2023
Victoria Sanchez
Research Assistant, 2022-2023
Ashley Searcy
Research Assistant, 2022-2023
image of Lizzie. She is wearing a gray shirt and a dark blazer with her arms folded.
Lizzie Braver
Research Assistant, 2022-2023