Mónica Ramirez-Andreotta holds a PhD in soil, water and environmental science from the University of Arizona, where she returned to teach after serving as a research fellow and junior faculty member at Northeastern University. She also holds a master of public administration degree from Columbia University and undergraduate degrees in art, ecology and evolutionary biology. Her research interests include developing a fundamental understanding of the fate and transport of contaminants in the environment, with a primary focus on plant-soil systems and phytotechnologies to improve soil and air quality. In parallel, she is building citizen science programs to increase public participation in environmental health research, developing low cost environmental monitoring tools to improve exposure estimates, and designing effective risk communication and data report-back strategies to improve environmental health literacy. Ramírez-Andreotta is dedicated to, and has been successful in reaching underserved populations. Her philosophy is that in order to successfully engage communities and students, it is essential to address critical environmental health problems identified by the community and work collaboratively through the problem-solving and research process.