Dr. Rafael M. Almeida | Principal Investigator
Assistant Professor in the School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences at the University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyBorn and raised in southeastern Brazil, Rafael is a sustainability scientist broadly trained as an aquatic ecosystem ecologist. His work on hydropower in the early years of his research trajectory sparked his current interest in sustainability across the water-energy-food nexus. He is particularly interested in social-ecological dimensions of renewable energy sources. Further, working with built aquatic ecosystems introduced him to aquaculture, which fueled his growing interest in sustainable food systems. In recognition of his innovative work as a Cornell Atkinson Postdoctoral Fellow in Sustainability, Rafael received the 2021 Hynes Award for New Investigators, bestowed by the Society for Freshwater Science.
rafael.almeida@utrgv.edu p. +1 (956) 665-5280 ESCNE 1.612 (Edinburg)
Ifeoluwa Babarinde | Graduate Student
Ife is a master's student in UTRGV's M.S. in Agriculture, Environmental & Sustainability Sciences. He received a B.S. in Agronomy from Osun State University (Nigeria) and an associate degree in Agriculture Technology from Nigeria’s Federal College of Agriculture. His undergraduate research has focused on increasing crop production using improved farming systems. Ife's current research focuses on environmental co-benefits of agrivoltaics.
Siena Stassi | Graduate Student
Siena has recently finished her undergraduate degree in Environmental Science at Stephen F Austin State University in the East Texas Piney woods. Her research there focused on microplastics in aquatic systems and soil carbon sequestration in East Texas pine stands. At UTRGV she’s pursuing a M.S. in Agriculture, Environmental Science & Sustainability, and her research focuses on sustainable energy and greenhouse gas emissions from built aquatic ecosystems.
Augusto Del Claro | Graduate Student
Augusto received a B.S. in Environmental Engineering from the Federal University of Uberlândia (Brazil). He’s had experience researching in an Electrochemistry Lab, publishing papers and working in the private sector. He’s pursuing a M.S. in Agriculture, Environmental & Sustainability Sciences at UTRGV since Fall 2023. Augusto’s research focuses on floating solar panels.
Areefin Ul Hassan Chowdhury | Graduate Student
Areefin is pursuing a M.S. in Applied Statistics & Data Sciences at UTRGV. He holds a B.S. in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from The University of Chittagong in Bangladesh, as well as a M.S. in Renewable Energy and Technology from Dhaka University. Areefin’s current research interests include floating solar power, greenhouse gas emissions, machine learning, and data science.
John Rodriguez | Undergraduate Intern
John is an environmental science major at UTRGV. He is currently working on an analysis of technical potential and practical challenges for developing agrivoltaics in the Rio Grande Valley.
Deisy Garcia | Graduate Student
Deisy received her B.S. from UTRGV, majoring in Environmental Science and minoring in Chemistry. She is currently pursuing a M.S. in Agriculture, Environmental & Sustainability Sciences at UTRGV. Deisy’s research is part of a DOE-funded effort that investigates interactions between solar energy development and globally declining pollinators.
Maria Camila Garcia | Graduate Student
Camila is pursuing a Ph.D. in Mathematics and Statistics with Interdisciplinary Applications at UTRGV. She earned a B.S. in Mathematics from the National University of Colombia. Camila’s research is centered in developing predictive models for estimating greenhouse gas fluxes from human-made aquatic ecosystems.
Former students:
Gabriela Salinas (undergraduate intern)