Alexandrea Arnold (she/her) is a fourth year Ph.D. student in the department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, where she is a graduate fellow of Center for Diverse Leadership in Science and was awarded a Eugene V. Cota-Robles fellowship. Prior to starting graduate school, she received her Bachelor’s degree from UCLA, double majoring in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences and Earth and Environmental Sciences. Her Ph.D. research investigates how the atmospheric dynamics that governed hydroclimate (temperature, evaporation, precipitation) evolved in the southwestern United States since the Last Glacial Maximum, roughly 20,000 years ago, by using geochemical proxies in concert with modeling to see if climate models are capturing the trends that are observed in the geologic record.
Alex is committed to improving both academic and environmental climates. She was awarded the UC President’s Award for Outstanding Student Leadership for her work creating student-led outreach program Environmental Justice and First Nations, which promotes the recruitment and retention of Indigenous students in STEM. Alex is also a co-founder of Society of Women Geoscientists at UCLA, a community created to help make the geosciences a more diverse and inclusive space, and has been the outreach chair of the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences department for the last three years. This spring, Alex was awarded the UCLA Academic Senate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Graduate Student Award for her leadership, mentorship, and outreach.
