EDUCATION

Arizona State University
Postdoctoral Research Scholar, Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation, 2024 - 2025
Project: Arizona Water Innovation Initiative – Arizona Water for All
Mentor: Dr. Amber Wutich

University of Florida
Ph.D. in Anthropology – track: Water Governance and Policy, May-2024
Masters in Sustainable Development Practice – track: Natural Resource Governance, 2017
Dissertation: "Participation Fatigue: An Emerging Challenge to Environmental Governance"
Committee: Drs. J.C. Johnson, C. Tucker, P. Collings, R. Muneepeerakul

Graduate Certificates: Latin American Studies, Tropical Conservation and Development

Zamorano Pan-American Agricultural School (Zamorano University), Honduras
B.S. in Socioeconomic Development and Environment, 2008
Thesis: "Institutional Analysis of Transgenic Technology in Honduras: A Case Study of Bt Corn"

ACADEMIC POSITIONS

Florida State University

Assistant Professor, 2025 -

Water Governance & Policy | Research Methods

Department of Anthropology

Arizona State University

Visiting Researcher, 2025 -

School of Human Evolution and Social Change (SHESC)

University of Florida
Instructor and Teaching Assistant (5 courses), Department of Anthropology, 2018 - 2024

Research Assistant: Natural Resources Leadership Institute, 2023; USAID Feed the Future, 2016 – 2018

North Carolina State University
Visiting Scholar, 2013 – 2014

GOVERNMENT POSITIONS

Leader of Monitoring and Evaluation Processes, 2015

Vice-Ministry of Rural Development, Quito, Ecuador

National Director of Value Chain Development & Director of Innovation, 2012 – 2013

Ministry of Agriculture, Quito, Ecuador

Director of Production and Trade, 2009 - 2011

Provincial Government, Loja, Ecuador

NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS

Technical Assistant, 2008

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, La Paz, Bolivia

PUBLICATIONS

Peer-Reviewed Articles

Published & In Press

Collings, P., Ready, E., & Medina-Ramírez, O.M. (2023). An Ethnographic Model of Stress in Canadian Inuit Communities. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 54(3), 407–428.https://doi.org/10.1177/00220221231155105

Ruth, A., M. Beresford, A. Wutich, H.R. Bernard, L. Gleason, C. SturtzSreetharan, M.V. du Bray, P. Cruz y Celis Peniche, K. Harper, K. Mayfour, Medina-Ramírez, O.M. Moghaddam, R. Negrón, R.G. Nelson, S. Renkert, A.D. Roque, and B. Yagüe. (2024). Value Propositions Provide a Roadmap for Teaching Doctoral Students How to Develop Research Proposals: Results from the National Science Foundation Cultural Anthropology Methods Program (NSF CAMP). Teaching Anthropology. In press.

Under review

Medina-Ramírez, O.M., Wutich, A, and McNamara, K. (2024). “We are exhausted”: Participation Fatigue in Water Governance. Society & Natural Resources. Submitted November 2024

Ruth, A., M. Beresford, A. Wutich, H.R. Bernard, C. SturtzSreetharan, L. Gleason, M.V. du Bray, B. Yagüe, A.D. Roque, S. Renkert, R.G. Nelson, R. Negrón, M. Moghaddam, K. Mayfour, Medina-Ramírez, O.M., K. Harper, P. Cruz y Celis Peniche. Graduate Student Mentorship: Benefits and Drawbacks of the Ancient Socratic versus the Contemporary Critical Response Process (CRP). Teaching In Higher Education. Submitted August 2024

Other Academic Writing (Not peer-reviewed)

Medina-Ramírez, O.M., et al. (2021). Análisis de planes de gobierno de tres binomios presidenciales en el Ecuador. Mesa de Ambiente. PhD Network. Red de Investigación Ecuatoriana.

Medina-Ramírez, O.M., 2017. Socio-environmental governance and the role of civil society: The case of the Mato Grosso Sustainable Municipalities Program. University of Florida. https://ufdc.ufl.edu/AA00060788/00001

Medina-Ramirez, O.M., Colverson K. 2017. Farm Field Schools (Escuelas de Campo) A learning methodology to integrate gender and nutrition in the training of agricultural extension agents in Honduras. The Integrating Gender and Nutrition within Agricultural Extension Services (INGENAES) – Discussion Paper

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

• Doctoral Research, Costa Rica, UF Water Institute (2017 - 2024): Social network position and causes of fatigue within participatory water governance networks. Funded by  NSF, OTS (Costa Rica), and the UF-Water Institute

• Field Research, Honduras, INGENAES Project (2016): Gender and nutrition integration in agricultural extension services. Funded by USAID – Feed the Future Initiative

• Field Research, Mato Grosso, Brazil, Sustainable Municipalities Program (2016). Governance Analysis. Funded by Instituto Centro de Vida and UF.

• Field Research, La Paz, Bolivia (2018). Food Security Strategy. Funded by Food and Agriculture Organization for the United Nations -FAO

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

·   Reviewer, Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies, 2020

·   Reviewer, Environmental Justice, 2024

·   Consultant, RE4GREEN Research Ethics for Sustainability, 2024

CONFERENCES AND SEMINARS

Panel Moderator:

• Ramsar Regional Center for Training and Research for the Western Hemisphere (CREHO-Panamá): Challenges and Opportunities for Water Security in the Santa Maria River, Panama. (Virtual). 2020.

• University of Florida, Center for Latin American Studies, 67th Annual Conference: Buen Vivir and Other Post-Development Pathways – Struggles Toward Human-Environment Well-Being. (Gainesville, Florida). 2018.

Presenter:

• Medina-Ramírez, O.M.,  Bartels, W., and Monaghan, P.  (2024). Practicing Collaborative Leadership in Florida: Insights on Constraints from Professionals in Natural Resource Management. Society for Applied Anthropology Annual Meeting. March 2024. Santa Fe, New Mexico.

• Medina-Ramírez, O.M. (2023). Sustainability within the Ecuadorian Context. Agriculture, Ecology, and Sustainable Futures. School for International Training (SIT). February 2023. Quito, Ecuador.

• Medina-Ramírez, O.M. (2022). We Are Exhausted – Exploring Fatigue Within Participatory Governance Networks. Kavli Frontiers of Science Symposium, U.S. National Academy of Sciences. April 8-10, 2022. Irvine, California.

• Medina-Ramírez, O.M. (2022). We Are Exhausted – Navigating Participation Fatigue in Collaborative Water Governance in the Tropics. Society for Applied Anthropology Annual Meeting. March 22-25, 2022. Salt Lake City, Utah.

• Medina-Ramírez, O.M., et al. (2022). El Desafío Institucional en la Gestión del Agua en el Pacífico Seco de Costa Rica. Ramsar Regional Center for Training and Research for the Western Hemisphere (CREHO-Panamá). March 9, 2022. (Virtual Presentation).

• Medina-Ramírez, O.M., et al. (2022). Water Governance and the State in the Tropics. University of Florida Water Institute Symposium. February 22-23, 2022. Gainesville, Florida.

• University of Florida Water Institute Symposium (2020): Sustainable Water Resources, Complex Challenges, Integrated Solutions – Understanding the Rain-Makers: Water Management in the Tempisque-Bebedero Watershed, Costa Rica. Gainesville, Florida.

• University of Georgia Integrative Conservation Conference (2020): Socio-Environmental Governance and the Role of Civil Society: The Case of the Mato Grosso Sustainable Municipalities Program. Athens, Georgia.

• Ramsar Regional Center for Training and Research (CREHO-Panamá) & UF Water Institute (2020):Tempisque Wetlands in Costa Rica. (Virtual).

• Tropical Conservation and Development – TCD Tropiluch (2018): Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration and Stakeholder Engagement in the Management of the Tempisque River Watershed, Costa Rica.

• Columbia University International Conference on Sustainable Development Practice (2016): Sustainable Municipalities Program – Governance Analysis. New York, USA.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

University of Florida (Gainesville, FL, USA)
Student Organizations:

• Vice-President – Association of Zamorano Alumni, UF Chapter (2020/2021)

• Colloquium Organizer – Florida Anthropology Student Association (2018/2019)

• Founding Member – Ecuadorian Student Group at UF (2017)

• Vice-President – Tropical Conservation and Development Student Group (2016/2017)

• Founding Member – Environmental Governance Student Group (2016)

Conference Organizer - Volunteer:

• Water Institute Symposium – Sustainable Water Resources: Complex Challenges, Integrated Solutions (2020)

• Center for Latin American Studies, 67th Annual Conference – Buen Vivir and Other Post-Development Pathways (2018)

• Symposium of Zamoranos in the USA (2018)

• Amazon Workshop – Tools and Strategies for Conservation and Development in the Amazon: Lessons Learned and Future Pathways (2017)

• Water Institute Symposium – Trends, Cycles, and Extreme Events (2016)

• Center for Latin American Studies & Embassy of Ecuador in the USA – Día del Ecuador (2016)

Zamorano University (Honduras)

• Founding Member – Zamorano Student Council (2006)

OTHER TRAINING

Organization for Tropical Studies (Costa Rica):

• Water: A Critical and Imperiled Global Resource (2023)

• Cambio Climático: Ciencia, Políticas Públicas, Casos de Estudio y Acción (2022)

University of Florida/Organization for Tropical Studies Joint Program in Sustainable Development:

• Law, Policy, and Professional Practice (Costa Rica, 2018/2019)

NEWAVE – Next Water Governance:

• Water Governance Theoretical Perspectives (2020)

Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA):

• Formulation and Evaluation of Agricultural Projects (Quito, Ecuador, 2013)

Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar & Universidad ICESI:

• Economic Development Strategies in Latin America (Quito, Ecuador & Cali, Colombia, 2012)

Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA):

• IV International Course on Territorial Development Public Policy (Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, 2011)

FODEPAL:

• Specialization in Food Security (Chile)

LANGUAGES

·       Spanish: Native proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing.

·       English: Fluent in speaking, reading, and writing.

·       Portuguese: Fluent in speaking, reading, and writing.