Andrea Miralles-Barboza

Andrea Miralles-Barboza is an International Climate Fellow in NOAAs Climate Program Office. She is a Venezuelan-American who has lived in Massachusetts, Venezuela, Florida and Maryland; all places which shaped her interest in working with culturally and ecologically rich communities that live near the water.

Andrea received her B.S. in Environmental Science and Policy from the University of Maryland, College Park, where she was first introduced to a variety of issues that coastal areas experience due to climate change. Wanting to pursue a career where she could work with coastal communities to adapt their own climate impacts, Andrea returned to College Park and received her M.S. from the Marine Estuarine Environmental Sciences graduate program. In her thesis research conducted along Maryland’s Lower Eastern Shore, she studied how different coastal stakeholder groups understood the climate adaptation “managed retreat”, or a retreat away from vulnerable coastlines. Andrea has also worked in non-profit, federal and academic spaces where she has gained experience in community science, multi-stakeholder adaptation planning and the human dimensions of nature-based solutions. She hopes that her research can help to inform coastal managers and adaptation practitioners around the world about the importance of engaging and empowering coastal communities in adaptation planning processes.