Ahlan wa Sahlan,

I am Georgina, an arab woman and scholar guided by my connection to the earth, my culture, and community.

I am a first-generation college graduate, and I hold an M.A. in Geography & Environment from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), a B.S. in Environmental Science & Health from the University of Southern California, and an A.S. in Environmental Science from Bunker Hill Community College. I am currently pursuing my PhD at UNC, specializing in human-environment geography under the guidance of Dr. Clark Gray. My journey is grounded in the aspirations of my Lebanese parents, who sacrificed much of their lives to create opportunities for their children. My parents come from generations of farmers in the Beqaa Valley of Lebanon, and I am committed to understanding how climate change will impact the people most vulnerable in the Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA) region, like those of my ancestors. My research focuses on the impact of climate change on women's and children’s nutrition in Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon.

I am grateful to be supported in my graduate research as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and through my traineeships at the Carolina Population Center (CPC). As a National Institutes of Health T-32 funded trainee in both the Population Science and Biosocial programs at the CPC, I have built a skillset embedded in interdisciplinary thought. Learning alongside a cohort of graduate students engaged in cross-disciplinary research, as well as students in my home department, has truly grounded me in a community that meaningfully shapes how I approach my research. This commitment to collaborative, interdisciplinary work also shapes my role in founding and organizing the SWANA Population Working Group. The working group is a space for fostering community among emerging scholars who work on population dynamics across the SWANA region.

Beyond my research, I ground myself in writing and poetry, cooking plant-based and Lebanese dishes, spending time in nature and music, and staying connected to my family and culture. These practices remind me of the commitments that guide my work and our interconnectedness within everything and everyone. They remind that this work, that I, and many of you do, is to create a more just future. Let us unite in our shared mission to educate, inspire, and advocate for justice for our planet and all those within it.

قدِّر ما تملك قبل أن يتحول إلى ما كنت تملكه

“appreciate what you have before it becomes what you had”