Noozhawk, a Santa Barbara online publication, recently featured an article about UCSB by Shawn Warner-Garcia, a PhD student in Linguistics at UCSB. Shawn’s article came out on October 1 and was titled: “Who’s New at UCSB? Meet Several of the Incoming Graduate Students.” One of the incoming students interviewed was Fernanda Figueiredo, a new PhD candidate in Geography. Read on:
Fernanda Figueiredo grew up in Brasília, the capital of Brazil. Brasília boasts the biggest urban park in the world — as well as a plethora of waterfalls, hikes, and biking trails close to the city center — so it’s only natural that Figueiredo, the daughter of a biogeography and ecology professor, would go on to specialize in environmental science and conservation.
Having graduated with her bachelor’s degree in geography from Universidade de Brasília, she comes to UCSB through a Science Without Borders scholarship to study geographic information systems, landscape modeling and remote sensing in the Geography Department.
“I was always interested in environmental conservation since my childhood when my parents took me to visit some National Parks and do some trips so that I could see different biomes and habitats in Brazil,” Figueiredo said.
She also participated in Girl Scouts as a child, where she “learned about protecting nature, [and the] importance of discipline and working in groups.” At UCSB, she hopes to become an environmental specialist and learn conservation techniques that she can take back to Brazil.
Figueiredo is excited not only about the beautiful scenery in Santa Barbara, but also the healthy lifestyle — including eating organic food, practicing sports, and cycling everywhere — that many adopt here. She enjoys cycling, hiking, and photography, as well as music, cooking, and crafting. One of her favorite places here in the U.S. is Yosemite National Park, which she visited recently. Figueiredo said that she fully expects her time here in Santa Barbara to be “awesome.”
Editor’s note: Many thanks to Geography Professor Jennifer King for pointing this material out.
