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Presenter Bios

Welcome to the Bio section of World Water Week, where we celebrate the diverse voices shaping our understanding and appreciation of water. From esteemed scientists unraveling its mysteries to artists translating its essence into mesmerizing works of art, from community leaders championing its sustainable management to dancers embodying its fluidity and grace, each presenter brings a unique perspective to this vital discourse. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all our presenters for their invaluable contributions, dedication, and passion, which make World Water Week possible. 

 

C. J. Alvarez is an environmental historian; he writes about deserts, the built environment, and the U.S.-Mexico border.

His first book, (University of Texas Press, 2019) is a history of the built world of the U.S.-Mexico borderline. Based on dozens of rare and never-before-seen historic maps, photographs, and blueprints, as well as archival documents and oral histories, he explains how and why the history of survey markers, surveillance infrastructure, and fencing is connected to the history of river engineering, damming, and other hydraulic projects. This book won the Vernacular Architecture Forum’s Abbott Lowell Cummings Award in 2020 as well as the Society of Architectural Historians’ Elisabeth Blair MacDougall Award in 2021 for its contribution to our understanding of the built environment of the border.

His second book project, The Arid Heart, is about the history of the Chihuahuan Desert, the largest and least-known expanse of dryland in North America. He begins the story at the end of the last Ice Age, and drawing on a combination of Indigenous oral histories, archaeological records, radiocarbon-based paleoenvironmental reconstructions, and historical archives he pieces together a multi-millennial story of a place we now know as the “Chihuahuan Desert.” The project is driven by the convictions that environmental boundaries are at least as compelling as political borders and that the more-than-human dimensions of desert history offer an important counterbalance to the dominance of anthropocentrism. During the 2019-2020 academic year this work was supported by an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship at the School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

During the 2023-2024 academic year he is a visiting fellow at the Tanner Humanities Center at the University of Utah.

Before he received his doctorate in history from the University of Chicago, he studied art history at Harvard and Stanford. Though he left the discipline of art history, his commitment to visual analysis remained, as did his interest in creative expression. He grew up in Las Cruces, New Mexico, a place that has since proven to be a nearly limitless source of research questions and inspiration.

José Barraza is a native of El Paso, Texas. He was introduced to the world of dance at the age of seventeen. He was part of a local dance studio under the direction of Monica Hernandez, where he performed in several dance competitions around the nation. He later attended the University of Texas at El Paso where he was able to train under Andree Harper, Lisa Smith, Myron Naydel, Emily Morgan, Andrea Vazquez-Aguirre, Ouisa Davis and Rafael Chávez. He went on to receive a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance in 2014. José has been a part of Human Nature Contemporary Ballet since 2015.

Chemical Engineer at Veracruz (UV) with a Master's Degree in Hydraulic Resources of arid zones from Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua (UACH). Doctorate in Environmental Science and Technology (Cimav) in 2012. Postdoctoral degree at the Institute of Geology (UASLP) from 2016 to 2018. Since 2018 Full-time Professor currently assigned to the Faculty of Engineering of the UACH. His lines of research are hydrogeochemical modeling in surface and groundwater, and removal of arsenic and fluoride ions with low-cost homemade filters. Member of the SNI from 2015 to 2019.

Author and co-author of 9 scientific articles indexed in JCR/Scopus, with more than 80 citations and an H index of 4. Responsible for the research project from 2019 to date with CONAHCyT funding source: Geogenic sources and mobilization mechanisms of arsenic, uranium, and fluoride in groundwater in the Sierra Madre Occidental, Mexico. Scientific Reviewer for the Environmental Engineering and Management Journal publisher.

Aliah Candia is a senior studying Creative Writing at 成人头条. She has published two poems in the 2022 Windward Review creative journal at Texas A&M University and hosts the Writer's Theatre at Aaron and George's Film Cafe every last Saturday of the month. As a diarist, Aliah takes inspiration from her emotions and curiosity towards life, love, and longing for her past. She is an editor of the mix-media documentation for the performance Mapping the Rio, in which she also performed in 2023.

Born and raised in West Texas, Brandon Carrillo combines 15 years of web development experience with a deep-rooted passion for community and environmental stewardship. Brandon has contributed to local environmental awareness, notably through the 'Build Back Wetter' exhibition at last year's Water Week conference. In addition to environmental advocacy, Brandon operates BrainDance AI Consulting, where he focuses on applying artificial intelligence to address complex challenges in data analysis. Through thoughtful design and a commitment to making a positive impact, Brandon seeks to support sustainable development and foster a collaborative approach to addressing the environmental needs of El Paso.

Dr. Yuh-Fang Chang is a Ph.D. in Foreign Language Education, The Ohio State University. She is a Professor in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. She specialized in Interlanguage Pragmatics, Bilingual Education, and Language Testing. She is also Vice President for Academic Affairs at National Chung-Hsing University.

Rafael Chavez is a native of El Paso, TX. He began dancing at 13 training under Eva Garza. He went on to receive his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance from the University of Texas at El Paso, further training with Andree Harper, Ouisa Davis, Lisa Smith, Myron Naydel, Emily Morgan, and Andrea Vazquez-Aguirre. Soon after graduating he founded Human Nature Contemporary Ballet choreographing neoclassical and contemporary works such as “Talisman,” “The GRID,” and “Transcendence.” His works have also been showcased at the American College Dance Association (ACDA), World Dance Alliance, as well as choreographing for competitions such as Starbound, Showstopper, and Youth American Grand Prix.

Rebeca Angelica Chavez is an Indigenous-Chicana freelance movement artist from the El Paso borderland, where she recently graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso’s Department of Theatre & Dance. Crediting her passion for dance starting at the age of six under the instruction of Pati Lara, which developed with support from her high school mentor, Leslie Lopez. While pursuing her academic endeavors, she was fortunate to travel across the country for performance and training opportunities, she was able to work with Seattle’s Olivier Wevers, Joni McDonald from SALT/SALT 2, movement artist Eddie Martinez of Tanztheater Wuppertal, and Chicago-based choreographer and dance film director, Amanda Ramirez, with the guidance and never-ending support of her mentors, Human Nature Contemporary Ballet’s Rafael Chávez, Myron Howard Nadel, and her family.

Dr. Kun-Hung Cheng is a Professor and Director, Director of the Digital Humanities and Archives Application Program, and Associate University Librarian. He holds a Ph.D. in 成人头条 Institute of Applied Science and Technology, Science Education and E-learning Group, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan. His research interests include E-learning, AR, VR, Multimedia Animation Design, Film & Video Post-production Techniques, Digital Image Processing, and Web Design.

Dr. Concha is an associate professor in the 成人头条 Department of Public Health Sciences. Dr. Concha is a psychosocial behavioral scientist who uses asset-based and culturally-centered approaches to engage Hispanic populations in health prevention and management behaviors. Her primary focus is diabetes disparities in Hispanic populations, where she currently directs The Diabetes Garage. The program uses automotive maintenance comparisons to engage men in their health and as a strategy to address disparities in men accessing diabetes educational programs. Dr. Concha uses health behavioral theories to identify asset-based strategies for engaging underserved populations in understanding the benefits of POU water filtration systems. Her work with Dr. Santiago includes identifying cultural factors associated with using POU water filtration systems in the Colonias in El Paso County. 

Adriana Dominguez is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at 成人头条. Recent projects include Los empeños de una casa, Heroes & Saints, Zoot Suit, Real Women Have Curves, and Cenicienta which received the Directors’ Choice Award at the Region VI Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival in 2022. She has published with “Chicana/Latina Studies,” “The Journal of Latina Critical Feminism,” “Camino Real,” “Theatre Topics,” and Eldridge Musicals and Plays. She was appointed as a Provost’s Faculty Fellow for 2022-2024 for Community Engaged Scholarship at 成人头条 and has served as the Co-Principal and Principal Investigator on three National Endowment for the Arts grants focused on community-engaged theatre making. Adriana was named Educator of the Year for Higher Education by the Texas Educational Theatre Association in 2020 and received the Kennedy Center Gold Medallion in 2024 for her dedication to the teaching and production of theatre.

Andrea “Andie” Everett is from Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and resides within the Pueblo with her family. She is an active participant in ceremonial and cultural dances of her community. Andrea holds a bachelor’s in environmental science with a geoscience concentration and a master’s in environmental science, with a graduate certificate in geographic information science and technology (GIST). Her thesis work focused on examining future climate scenarios, and how these climate changes will further impact the Native American community of Ysleta del Sur Pueblo’s (Tiguas) cultural continuity and access to riparian ecosystem services along the Rio Grande River.

Andrea’s passion lies in the use of GIS (Geographic Information Systems), and she is the owner of MartriARC PROJECTion, LLC, which she uses to assist organizations, tribes, schools, federal and state entities, and businesses to harness the power of GIS and Drone services to meet the needs of their communities and businesses.

Sarah Fuentes was born and raised from El Paso, Texas, and has had a passion for dance since she was 12 years old. She danced throughout high school, and later began studying dance at El Paso Community College under dance director Christina Mitchell, as well as other professors such as Marta Katz, Sara Jackiewicz, and Pamela Turley. Sarah had the opportunity to take classes in 2015 with ballet instructor Marta Katz, director of El Paso Ballet Theatre, and further trained with instructors Leslie Lopez and Yespari Miller. As a student at EPCC, she has had the pleasure of attending the American College Dance Association. Sarah later attended The University of El Paso Texas at El Paso studying under Lisa Smith, Myron H. Nadel and Leanne Rinelli. While at 成人头条, Sarah was selected to attend the Bailando Dance Festival. Sarah has been training with Human Nature for about 7 years.

Luis Garnica is a dedicated Research Associate at the University of Texas at El Paso, where he spearheads efforts in advancing water resources management and sustainable technology integration. With over five years of research and three years of industry experience, Luis holds a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from Universidad Autonoma de Chihuahua, followed by a master’s in software engineering from 成人头条. Luis’s current research focuses on data, model integration, and cyberinfrastructure, with notable projects supported by funding from USDA-NIFA and NSF. He plays a pivotal role in the "Sustainable Water Through Integrated Modeling" (SWIM) project, now backed by Microsoft. Additionally, he serves as senior personnel on the NSF-funded "Smart Social Connector" project, aimed at addressing social isolation among older adults through technology adoption. As an esteemed organizer of 成人头条 World Water Week since its inception, Luis brings a unique blend of technical expertise and a passion for sustainability. His contributions foster interdisciplinary dialogue and drive actionable solutions in water management.

Chris Hall is the executive director of Water League. With an academic background in the performing arts, he co-founded a nonprofit dance-theatre company in downtown San Diego and helped shape long-term urban planning in the redevelopment project area as a C3 board member and elected official on the Centre City Advisory Committee. In 2013, he co-founded the Cave Junction Farmers Market in southwest Oregon and served as its president and treasurer. He is also the treasurer of the board of the Illinois Valley Chamber of Commerce. In 2021, the Illinois Valley Soil & Water Conservation District hired Chris to assess the impact of the run-away cannabis industry, producing a first-of-its-kind and widely cited report about issues subsequently addressed in three bills of the state of Oregon. In May 2022, Hall co-founded Water League to engage the public in water stewardship, which includes building the Water Action Community, providing testimony for rule-making and legislative committees, and producing letters and white papers to effect water use policy changes.

Josiah Heyman (Ph.D., CUNY 1988) is Professor of Anthropology, Endowed Professor of Border Trade Issues, and Director of 成人头条’s Center for Interamerican and Border Studies.  His recent work involves household economies and utility bills, including water. Springing off of this, he has been working in collaboration with Alex Mayer on the tree-heat-water nexus and the land cover of El Paso and Ciudad Juárez. Before that, he was co-leader with Bill Hargrove of a participatory modeling project on water in the Paso del Norte region, two countries and three states.  He also has worked on border cultures, family histories in moving to the border region, state agencies, migrants, and numerous other border topics. 

Yowei Kang holds a Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Writing from the University of Texas–El Paso. He is an Assistant Professor at the Inservice Bachelor Program of Culture and Creative Industry, National Chung Hsing University, TAIWAN. His research interests include new media design, digital game research, visual communication, and experiential rhetoric. Some of his works have been published in the Journal of Creative Communication (2021), Asiascape: Digital Asia (2021), China Media Research (2020), International Journal of Strategic Communication (2015), and Journal of Intercultural Communication Studies (2019). He has received government funding to support his research in location-based advertising and consumer privacy management strategies.

Dr. Kennedy is an assistant professor in the department of Civil Engineering at the University of Texas at El Paso. She earned her B.S. in Environmental and Ecological Engineering at Purdue University and her M.S. as well as her Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. She continued her training as a postdoc at Stanford University, where she joined the Sewer Coronavirus Alert Network (SCAN) and wastewaterSCAN teams. The Kennedy Water Lab aims to characterize microbial community dynamics, occurrence, and persistence in the engineered water cycle and apply these data to protect public health and wellbeing as well as the environment.

Larry Lesser is a 成人头条 Distinguished Teaching Professor at 成人头条. As an undergraduate, he took a transformative upper-division poetry seminar from Susan Wood. Since then, Lesser has published around 90 poems and 130 songs. Many of his poems and songs intersect with mathematics/statistics (and he has given talks/readings, co-organized contests and national conference readings, and written peer-reviewed articles on these connections).  His published poetry spans over a dozen different journals or anthologies (e.g., Talking Writing, BorderSenses Literary Magazine, Poetica Magazine, etc.), as listed in . He has taught full-time for 3 universities and a high school, worked for a nonpartisan legislative agency, co-authored textbooks, won national and statewide teaching awards, and directed a teaching center that served an entire university. His album () of original nonliturgical songs based on Jewish text/culture is a Finalist for Album of the Year in the 2021 New Mexico Music Awards. He and his spouse currently live in El Paso with their hairless rescue dog Kelev. 

Claudia Ley is a multidisciplinary scholar, social artist, and third-generation jeweler from El Paso, Texas. In 2015 she received her M.A. in Sociology with a focus on Museum Studies from the University of Texas at El Paso. Since February of 2023, she has served as the Assistant Curator of Education and Outreach at the Rubin Center for the Visual Arts. Claudia has been in museum education since 2013, as the education intern at the Rubin Center, the art school coordinator at the El Paso Museum of Art, the education curator at the Centennial Museum and Chihuahuan Desert Gardens. Most recently she also served as a curatorial and advising consultant for the Smithsonian Latino Center and the National Museum of the American Latino overlooking educational digital content. She also currently serves on the board of the Public Art Committee for the City of El Paso Museums and Cultural Affairs Department.

Luis Llanes is a multifaceted professional devoted to the art form of dance. Qualified with his BFA in Dance from 成人头条, Luis currently emerges into the multiple roles of directing, choreographing, performing, and educating. In 2022, Luis tackled the role of coaching for the “Illusions Dance Team” at Irvin High School. Luis has nationally trained dancers from all over the US since 2021 via his employment through NDA (National Dance Alliance). Actively performing in local showcases, Luis joined Human Nature Ballet Company as of 2022. Luis has choreographed a variety of works ranging from dance competition pieces, quince fun dances, video projects, and a 10-minute concert dance piece presented in "Eight," a fully sold-out show. In 2017, Luis competed as a finalist in Las Vegas, NV, for the title of “Best Teen Male Dancer” via his scholarship to “The Dance Awards.”

Sandra Paola López Ramírez (EdM, MFA) is a latinoamericana dancemaker, cultural organizer, improviser, and mother. Her interdisciplinary work plays with gender, identity, and sociality, and it has taken her through Abya Yala, Turtle Island and Europe. Driven by her commitment to transformation and healing, Sandra Paola co-founded and directs the Institute for Improvisation and Social Action (ImprovISA) – an organization where she has developed her work to radically integrate her creative process and her community organizing efforts. She has a vibrant artistic practice grounded on the investigation of relationships, especially between body and land, and is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Theater and Dance at 成人头条.

Camila is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Texas at El Paso. She received her master’s (2016) and Ph.D. (2020) degrees in environmental engineering from the University of Arizona and worked as a postdoc at the Department of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil (2020-2022), and at the Institute of Chemistry at the State University of Campinas, Brazil (2022-2023). Her research focuses on understanding the fate of emerging contaminants in the environment and designing microbial processes for their removal. She is also interested in the design of sustainable and reliable wastewater treatment processes. Her research aims to shed light on mechanisms leading to the accumulation or attenuation of contaminants in different environmental matrices and inform regulatory agencies and institutions responsible for their risk assessment. As an instructor, she aims to promote inclusive education for underrepresented students in STEM programs.

Dr. Alex Mayer is Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Texas at El Paso. Dr. Mayer’s teaching and research focuses on finding collaborative solutions to water resources problems through modeling of watersheds and groundwater aquifers and interactions with stakeholders. His current research topics include water resources systems modeling, transboundary aquifer governance, impacts of sea level rise on coastal groundwater aquifers, water access in underserved populations, climate change impacts on urban water availability, and tree benefit and water use tradeoffs in desert cities. His research has taken place in the Rio Grande basin, Caribbean, Laurentian Great Lakes, and Sonora and Veracruz, Mexico.

Melissa Melpignano, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Dance and Director of Dance at 成人头条. Her scholarly and creative research investigates how choreography and dance practice contribute to theorizations of livability and unlivability in contested areas and border regions – such as Palestine-Israel and Mexico-U.S. border – in relation to military, political, and environmental conflicts. She also researches how performance and somatic practices foster water and health access in underserved communities. She is the PI of the NEA-funded research grant “Somatics and Movement for Healthcare.” She gained a PhD in Culture & Performance from UCLA, a MA in Literary Studies from the University of Lugano, a BA summa cum laude in Performance Studies from the University of Venice (IT) and a BA(Hons) in Contemporary Dance from the London Contemporary Dance School-University of Kent (UK). Her works appear in TDR The Drama Review, Dance Research Journal, 50 Contemporary Choreographers, The Oxford Handbook of Jewishness and Dance, among others. She is the co-chair of World Water Week 2024.

​​Chandell Molinar is working towards a BFA in Dance with a concentration in Performance at 成人头条; before her time at 成人头条, she attended El Paso Community College, where she was a member of the dance organization Canvas Dance, for which she also served as secretary. Once Molinar transitioned to 成人头条, she began her training with Valeria Gonzales, Cristina Goletti, Myron Nadel, Neri Torres, Tawanda Chabikwa, and Melissa Melpignano. Molinar has had the opportunity to perform and attend many conferences such as the American College Dance Association (ACDA), World Dance Alliance, Bailando International Dance Festival, and participated in productions such as Motion Bound, New Voices in Dance, Gathering for Water, and many senior capstones at 成人头条.

Eric Murillo is a Piro-Manso-Tiwa borderlands scholar, the proud father of Elio and Ollin Murillo, and an Army veteran. He is a PhD student in Sociology at 成人头条 and has worked with the Piro Manso Tiwa tribe as a researcher for the tribe’s application for federal recognition. His research interests are colonial period history, identity formation and classification, and Indigenous history in the borderlands. With a passion for advocating for Indigenous nations and veterans, he has actively contributed to research efforts for his tribe’s federal recognition.

From sanitation workers to firefighters, power linemen to maintenance teams, Allison Orr creates award-winning choreography with the people whose work sustains our everyday lives. Inspired by the beauty and virtuosity in the movement of labor, and building on her background in anthropology and social work, Allison has honed a methodology of ethnographic choreography that engages community members as co-authors and performers in the creation of large-scale civic spectacles. Challenging audiences to expand notions of dance and performer, her dances have been performed for audiences of 60 to 6,000+.

In recent years, Allison has been named a MacDowell Fellow, a Dance | USA Fellow in Social Change, a Doris Duke United States Artist Fellow, Best Choreographer by The Austin Chronicle, Most Outstanding Choreographer by the Austin Critics Table, one of Tribeza Magazine’s Top 10 Austinites, and one of eight “Extraordinary Texans” by Texas Highways Magazine. Her large-scale work The Trash Project was named a #1 Arts Event by the Austin American-Statesman, #1 Dance Event by The Austin Chronicle, and Most Outstanding Dance Concert by the Austin Critics Table. It is also the subject of a feature-length documentary film entitled Trash Dance.

Allison has been commissioned four times by the Fusebox Festival and was the single US choreographer selected by the Kyoto Arts Center as part of the National Performance Network’s Asian Exchange program. A guest artist for numerous dance programs including Williams College, Wake Forest University, the University of Maryland, and Texas A&M, Allison has been a Mellon Foundation Creative Campus Scholar at the Center for the Arts of Wesleyan University. Her work has been funded by the City of Austin, the Texas Commission on the Arts, the Doris Duke Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Mid-America Arts Alliance, the MAP Fund, The New England Foundation for the Arts, Engaging Dance Audiences/Dance USA, Bloomberg Philanthropies, the City of Venice, Italy, and many more. 

Currently a Distinguished Fellow of the College of Environment at Wesleyan University, Allison directed The Artist in the City — a hands-on course in her community-based dance-making practice where Wesleyan students embedded within the local water/wastewater department to create collaborative artistic projects with city employees. Allison has also taught children, adults over 65, and people with disabilities. Before founding Forklift Danceworks in 2001, Allison danced and studied with Deborah Hay and MacArthur Award winner Liz Lerman. She holds an MFA in Choreography and Performance from Mills College and a BA in Anthropology from Wake Forest University. Allison is a fourth generation Texan and lives in Austin with her husband and two children. 

In her recently published book—Dance Works: Stories of Creative Collaboration, Allison reflects on her major collaborations and shares interviews with people she’s made dances with over the past two decades. Power line workers, sanitation workers, and firefighters reflect on their memories of performing with Forklift and the lasting impact those dances made. Alongside larger conversations in the arts, Allison offers a look at how to create community-based art projects, how the creative process can bring people together to address civic issues, and the beauty of choreographing the day to day.

Celina Osuna is a scholar and an artist. She is an Assistant Professor of English at the University of Texas at El Paso, and her research, with an emphasis on Indigenous and Latinx Environmentalisms, explores aesthetics of desert places in literature, art, and film and their impacts on cultural imagination and geopolitical relationships to land. Her monograph, Desert Distortion, is forthcoming from Texas Tech University Press, and she is the co-editor of Storied Deserts: Reimagining Global Arid Lands due out next year with Routledge.

Beatriz Rocha, Ph.D., has been a professor of Chemistry at the University of Chihuahua since 2013. She obtained a master’s degree in sciences with a major in analytical chemistry and a Ph. D in Environmental Sciences and Engineering from 成人头条. Her work has concentrated on drinking water quality focused on F and NO3, the reuse of wastewater in agriculture, and reclaimed water in the industry. Also, her research includes detection and quantification focused on two groups of emerging pollutants: organochlorine pesticides and PBDEs in wastewater. Dr. Rocha has presented her research findings in several international, national, and regional scientific meetings. She has publications in international journals listed in Scopus in all the areas of her research and is part of the Mexican Researchers Institute (SNI). Dr. Rocha has been PI in Mexican federal grants and regional funds in research projects related to water treatment.

Mohammad Rahman is a 成人头条 Teaching Assistant in the Department of Philosophy and a mentee of Dr. Ball-Blakely and Dr. Dasgupta. Rahman’s research focuses on substantive and procedural justice on environmental security, social oppression, AI surveillance, and immigration precarity in the US-Mexico borderlands.

His research interests include sovereign states’ external and internal immigration enforcement qualified by a philosophy of immigration, constitutional norms, human rights, and international refugee law.

Rahman is also passionate about orienting philosophical insights to sovereignty, territorial disputes, conflict, femicide, and marine environment protection.

Claudia Rivers is the Head of the Special Collections Department of 成人头条’s Library and has worked as a professional archivist for more than 30 years.

Sergio D. Samaniego has been with the Center for Environmental Resource Management at the University of Texas at El Paso (成人头条) since 2020 and serves as the Assistant Manager at the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park (RBWP). RBWP is a 372-acre City of El Paso park found next to the Rio Grande in El Paso’s Mission Valley. At the park, 成人头条 and its many collaborators are working on establishing examples of historic river valley wetland ecosystems once found along the Rio Grande. Sergio enjoys all things outdoors and is part of the artist-led collective Somos Agua/We Are Water, acts as the West Texas representative for the Texas Chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration, and is a member of the Frontera Land Alliance Lands and Water committee. His training is in Environmental Science with a concentration in freshwater invertebrates (M.S. 成人头条, 2019) and his interests include wetlands, restoration ecology, and deserts.

Jane Terrazas is a visionary textile artist hailing from the Ciudad Juarez, Mexico border. Through her artistry, Jane weaves a powerful tapestry of change, challenging narratives surrounding climate change, racial tensions, gender inequality, and political crises, transforming threads into catalysts for conversation and unraveling the complexities of our world through a narrative of resilience and hope. In the vibrant borderland spirit, her textiles become a medium for social change, inviting viewers to engage with pressing global issues through the lens of creativity and compassion. janetteterrazas.com

Kimberly Trigueros started her dance career in high school in El Paso, TX at El Dorado High School. Kimberly attended El Paso Community College pursuing an associate degree in dance and was part of the EPCC dance company under the direction of both Rainey Demerson and Christina Mitchell. Kimberly continue her education, pursuing a Bachelor’s in Dance at the University of Texas at El Paso. Kimberly was part of the university dance company under the direction of Lisa Smith, Myron Nadel, and Leanne Rinelli. Kimberly was part of the 成人头条 production Iconic Pop in 2018 and worked with several other colleagues in other pieces, including Leanne Rinelli’s What I Want to Yell You in 2019. Graduating in 2018, she joined Human Nature Contemporary Ballet and has also been part of Livaine Dance under the direction of Brianna Hawkins.

Karen Valles holds a BFA in Dance Performance from the University of Texas at El Paso. She started dancing in high school, in the color guard team at East Lake High School under the direction of Robert Gallegos and David Gomez. They helped her make a top ten scholastic open guard finalist at the Winter Guard International. After high school, Karen decided to pursue dance at the University of Texas at El Paso. While at 成人头条, Valles had the opportunity to train with Lisa Smith, Myron Nadel, Leanne Rinelli, and Hannah Fisher; she also had the chance to perform in different works by Leanne Rinelli, Brandon Ray Alba, and Hanna Fisher. Valles has been dedicated to self-discovery through movement, and she's grateful for the impact that it has made in her life.

Berenice Vazquez Bernal is a Mexican Citizen, born and raised in Ciudad Juarez Chihuahua. She belongs to a family of Academic parents and a sister with a bicultural tradition’s family in El Paso. Her basic school studies were in Juarez and her professional education was at the University of Texas at El Paso. She graduated from the College of Business in 2004 with a double major in Marketing and International Business. She worked in the private and public sectors in different companies in Juarez, implementing marketing, advertising, design, and business communications. In 2008, finished her master’s degree at Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juarez in Business with a minor in Marketing. In 2013 she began to work at UACJ in Ciudad Juarez as an academic in the Graphic Design Program; since 2016, she works as an academic teacher in the Advertising program from UACJ-IADA at Division Multidisciplinaria Ciudad Universitaria at the south of Juarez City. Her latest research focuses on sustainable marketing and advertising.

Mario is a Chemical and Environmental Engineer with over forty years of experience in disciplines related to water and wastewater treatment, environmental impact assessment, environmental risk assessment, industrial safety, occupational health, feasibility of renewable energy projects, integration of greenhouse gas inventories, development of state climate action plans, econometric quantification of public policy options for greenhouse gas mitigation, and evaluation of infrastructure projects' impact. Until 2021, he was Director of Technical Assistance at the North American Development Bank, responsible for programs evaluating air quality projects, urban solid waste, municipal planning, renewable energies, and sectors of green infrastructure, regional planning, and environmental project management. He is a part-time lecturer at UACJ and collaborator of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

Liz Walsh is a professor of Biological Sciences. She received her B.S. in Animal Biology and her Ph.D. in Environmental Biology from the Univ. of Nevada – Las Vegas. Walsh completed two post-doctoral research fellowships in molecular systematics before joining the faculty at the University of Texas at El Paso. She is currently Associate Dean for 成人头条 Studies for the College of Science and Acting Director of the Center for Environmental Resource Management. Her research focuses on the ecology and evolutionary biology of freshwater invertebrates and is funded by the National Science Foundation. She has published over 70 research articles. She is the PI of an NSF-funded post-bac program and co-PI on a NIH doctoral training grant. She received the University of Texas Regents Outstanding Teaching Award. Walsh is currently co-lead of the Our Wild America campaign for the national Sierra Club, the largest environmental organization in the US.

Kenneth C.C. Yang (Ph.D.) is a Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Texas at El Paso, USA. His research focuses on new media advertising, consumer behavior, and international advertising. Some of his many works have been published in Cyberpsychology, Journal of Strategic Communication, International Journal of Consumer Marketing, Journal of Intercultural Communication Studies, Journal of Marketing Communication, and Telematics and Informatics. He has edited or co-edited three books, Asia.com: Asia Encounters the Internet (Routledge, 2003), Multi-Platform Advertising Strategies in the Global Marketplace (IGI Global, 2018), and Cases on Immersive Virtual Reality Techniques (IGI Global, 2019).
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