Stefanie develops technical guidance, policy recommendations and tools to help decision-makers around the world understand climate risks and turn this understanding into actionable climate adaptation and resilience solutions, from the national to the local level. She also brings a behavioral science lens to her work, drawing on her certificate in Sustainability & Behavior Change to consider how communities and institutions respond to climate risk.

After nine years in WRI's climate adaptation and resilience team, Stefanie now works within the Systems Change Lab (SCL), where she provides research and data support underpinning a global monitoring platform that tracks over 1,000 indicators of progress on the transformative shifts needed to reach sustainable development and resilience goals. She also provides technical expertise to other teams as needed.

A prolific researcher and project manager, she has authored more than 30 publications — including working papers, reports, and insights articles — spanning climate policy, urban resilience, gender equity, nature-based solutions, and locally led action. She previously served as WRI's lead on Locally Led Adaptation — a new approach in which communities and local actors decide how and when to adapt — and managed the second development phase of AgriAdapt, a stakeholder-centered digital tool helping agricultural planners assess and respond to climate risk. She has collaborated with civil society organizations, external partners, and funders across multiple continents, and managed small and medium teams throughout. Her work includes spearheading the research and publication of an urban water resilience report in African cities, analyzing long-term adaptation planning strategies in Latin America and the Caribbean, writing case studies illustrating how to integrate adaptation into countries' coastal resilience and health systems, and providing technical assistance to ministry officials.

Prior to WRI, Stefanie worked on climate and land rights issues at Land is Life, a global Indigenous grassroots organization. She holds an M.A. in Sustainable International Development from Brandeis University, specializing in climate resilience, and a B.A. from New York University in Politics, Human Rights & Economic Development with a minor in Latin American Studies. She grew up in Mexico and is a conservation and sustainability advocate. She's also an avid baker and reader.