Maria Cecilia (Chechi) is a political scientist who holds a Master’s in Public Policy (MPP) and a Master’s in Environmental Management (MEM). Chechi is a scuba diver who has participated in different scientific expeditions in Colombia to monitor the reef’s health and reef restoration. During her MEM program, she focused on coastal environmental management and also researched the socio-economic and human dimensions of blue carbon projects. Previous to joining Duke, she worked for the Colombian National Government on public policy design and monitoring. Two of the most gratifying national public policies she guided are Colombia as a Bi-oceanic Power and the National System of Protected Areas. She was also a consultant for WWF-Colombia, where she created the conceptual framework and indicators to measure equitable management of protected areas; a topic that is related to the current research project she’s working on at the Ocean Synthesis Lab about procedural equity in marine conservation initiatives.
email: maria.pertuz.molina@duke.edu
