Marcia Moreno-Baez

Marcia Moreno-Baez interests span a wide range of environmental problems, with a common thread being developing spatial decision-making tools to address all stages of the scientific process, from data acquisition and processing to spatial modeling and communication. She has two primary research areas. One is to understand the spatial distribution of impacts of environmental problems, resource extraction, and policies. The second is to support applied research that bridges the common divides between social, economic, and environmental goals while opening opportunities for equity and justice through the participation of different sectors and stakeholders. Other current research interests include identifying opportunities to better adapt to a technological transition to green energy through the blue economy, particularly focused on coastal and fishing communities. She has more than 25 years of experience in the field of geospatial technology with a diverse professional practice in government, the private sector, NGOs, and academia. Her experience also involved on facilitating the practical use of science and technology for a spatially literate workforce and the support of scientific research and policy in the US, Mexico, and Latin America. Marcia’s teaching experience includes numerous short courses for targeted audiences and GIS and spatial analysis. Her classes focus on using and developing geospatial methods across an array of applications such as human security, economic development, humanitarian assistance, climate change, and natural resources management in locations across the globe.

Research/Areas of Interest:

Geospatial Technologies, Geographic Information Systems, Coastal Marine Environmental Management and Conservation, Geography, Regional Planning, Participatory and Collaborative Research, Geospatial Applied Research, Decision-making Tools, Spatial Data, Blue Justice, Blue Economy

Education

• PhD, University of Arizona, Tucson, United States, 2010
• MS, University of Arizona, Tucson, United States, 2003
• Architecture, Tec de Monterrey, Hermosillo, Mexico, 1998

Non-academic Positions

• Spatial Planner and Analyst
  Strafford Regional Planning Commission, Rochester, United States 6 Aug 2018 - 26 Jul 2019
• GIS Specialist
  Sonoran Institute, Colorado River Delta Program, Tucson, United States 5 Jan 2004 - 3 Jan 2005
• GIS Specialist
  World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Gulf of California Program, Guaymas, Mexico 7 Jan 2002 - 16 Dec 2022
• GIS Specialist
  Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, CECARENA, Monterrey, Mexico 4 Jan 1999 - 15 Dec 2000

Selected Publications

Cisneros-Montemayor, A. M., Moreno-Báez, M., Reygondeau, G., Cheung, W. W. L., Crosman, K. M., González-Espinosa, P. C., . . . Ota, Y. (2021). Enabling conditions for an equitable and sustainable blue economy. Nature, 591(7850), 396-401. doi:10.1038/s41586-021-03327-3

Cisneros-Montemayor, A. M., Moreno-Báez, M., Voyer, M., Allison, E. H., Cheung, W. W. L., Hessing-Lewis, M., . . . Ota, Y. (2019). Social equity and benefits as the nexus of a transformative Blue Economy: A sectoral review of implications. Marine Policy, 109. doi:10.1016/j.marpol.2019.103702