Rachel is a Research Associate on the Ocean Program’s Data Team and the Climate, Equity, and Finance Team. Her work spans local to global scales, with a focus on developing data systems that bridge the gap between local communities and ocean decision-makers, as well as systems that support more informed and transparent ocean governance at national and global levels. Her community-centered work emphasizes participatory data generation, including ongoing projects measuring ocean dependence among artisanal fishing communities in southern Mozambique.

With a background in data science and Geographic Information Systems, Rachel also supports global initiatives to advance equitable ocean governance and track progress toward ocean-related climate and biodiversity goals. She contributes research, data and geospatial analysis, and visualizations to projects such as the Systems Change Lab and OceanWatch. In addition, she serves on the co-organizing committee of the Social Accounts working group, which aims to develop methods for incorporating social and equity metrics into standardized national ocean accounting frameworks.

Rachel holds a B.S. in Biology with a specialization in Environmental and Biological Conservation and Computer Science from the University of Virginia. Prior to her current role, she served as a Peace Corps Volunteer and a Fulbright Student Researcher in Mozambique. She first joined WRI as an intern in 2021.