Dr. Isabella Alcañiz is an Associate Professor of the Department of Government and Politics and Director of the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Center, University of Maryland (UMD).

Professor Alcañiz studies the politics of climate change, social inequality, disaster policy, and gender with a focus on Latin America and Latinx residents of the United States. Her research has been published in Global Environmental Politics, Journal of Cleaner Production, Water Policy, Environmental Science & Policy, World Politics, and the Latin American Research Review. Her book, Environmental and Nuclear Networks in the Global South: How Skills Shape International Cooperation, was published by Cambridge University Press.

She received a PhD from the Department of Political Science at Northwestern University and a Licenciatura in International Relations from the Universidad de Belgrano (Argentina).

She serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of Environmental Politics and Global Environmental Politics.

Dr. Alcañiz is a member of the Latinx and immigration advocacy organization CASA de Maryland, where she works with immigrant youth and sits on the Leadership Council of the youth program Mi Espacio.