We’re pleased to announce that Kaitlyn Alvarez Noli, SSEHRI Affiliate Faculty since she began at Northeastern, is now a Core Faculty member. It’s exciting to have her be part of the leadership team in SSEHRI.
Kaitlyn is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Health Sciences. She is currently working on three research projects at the intersection of pesticide regulation, industry practices, and environmental justice. Her research focuses on farmworkers, the majority of whom are of Mexican origin or descent, and their disproportionate exposure to pesticides. One of her projects examines how colorblind rhetoric and regulatory mechanisms perpetuate environmental racism in California’s agricultural communities. This research demonstrates how pesticide exposure harms are downplayed and how racial inequalities that harm vulnerable farmworker communities are reinforced.
In her second project, she explores farmworker advocacy efforts and traces the work of a grower-advocate partnership in Ventura County, California. This project examines the power imbalances between farmworker advocates and industry representatives, seeking to understand how advocates navigate these power dynamics while pursuing labor reform. Finally, her third project evaluates the enforcement of the Worker Protection Standard (WPS) across the U.S. and explores how state-level enforcement impacts farmworker populations. The WPS aims to protect farmworkers and pesticide applicators from the dangers of exposure to toxic pesticides. This research focuses on trends in reported violations, investigations, and enforcement outcomes. The overall goal of this project is to evaluate the effectiveness of the WPS’s protective mandate. These projects contribute to SSEHRI’s efforts to explore environmental health issues and address the environmental justice challenges facing vulnerable communities.
