Robert Garcia

About Robert Garcia

I am a research scientist and educator with more than a decade of experience in research design, management, and analysis, with methodologies ranging from quantitative to qualitative methods, and with clients ranging from academics to corporate entities. I have deep expertise in social and cognitive psychology, which informs my lines of inquiry and understanding of user biases and audience preferences. I combine this with my skill set in statistics and data analytics to generate actionable insights. I also have extensive leadership, teaching, and mentorship experience, including managing UX research teams, working as a director of four nonprofit departments, recruiting, training, and managing staff for two different academic research labs, and mentoring two full cohorts of climate justice students. I am a focused and empathetic leader and know how to shift between detail-oriented and big-picture thinking. I am especially passionate about using social psychology as a tool for mobilizing individuals and communities to live more productive, sustainable, and compassionate lives.Here is the website for the UC Irvine CLIMATE Justice Initiative, the program I coordinate:https://sites.ps.uci.edu/climatejustice/

Experience

1. Academic Coordinator for Uci\'s Climate Justice Initiative

   Uc Irvine Department Of Earth System Science

   Aug 2023 — Present · Irvine, CA, US

   Co-designed the $7.5M NSF-funded CLIMATE Justice Initiative program curriculum and managed its implementation via administrative support, admissions decision-making, event management/planning, in-classroom facilitation, and presentation delivery• Collaborated with faculty, staff, and external evaluators to strategize on student retention, persistence, and success by using empirical research, best practices, and emergent data on program participants• Served as a liaison between community-based organizations, students, and faculty to create and sustain 12 equitable, cross-disciplinary research partnerships• Provided professional development training, career opportunities, and individualized mentorship for 29 program participants • Represented the CLIMATE Justice Initiative in school and campus-wide committees focused on environmental justice, climate change, outreach, community engagement, and education

Education

• UC Irvine

  Master's degree, Social Ecology

  2010 — 2014

• UC Irvine

  Ph.D, Psychology and Social Behavior

  2010 — 2016

• UCLA

  Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Cognitive Science

  2007 — 2010

Skills

• Hootsuite
• Research
• Spss
• Social Psychology
• Psychology
• Cognitive Psychology
• Group Dynamics
• Writing
• Consulting
• Research Design
• Science
• Business Intelligence
• Fitness
• Google Analytics
• Sql
• Cognitive Science
• Data Analysis
• Higher Education
• Public Speaking
• Statistics
• Vegan
• Lecturing
• University Teaching
• Microsoft Office
• Teaching
• Buffer
• Microsoft Excel
• Analytics