Dr. Xoco Shinbrot
AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow
Directorate for Geosciences
Office of Polar Programs
Arctic Division
Class of 2021–2022

Xoco (pronounced Sho'ko) Shinbrot is a social scientist focused on ecological issues, originally from Santa Barbara, California. She received her B.A. in environment and development from McGill University and went on to receive her M.S. in environmental science and policy at Johns Hopkins University. Xoco continued to earn her Ph.D. in ecology at Colorado State University in the department of human dimensions of natural resources in 2019. Her doctoral research centered on how stewardship and climate adaptation could be fostered through community-based natural resource management, payment for ecosystem services, and citizen science programs in rural and urban Latin America. As a postdoctoral fellow, she taught two classes at Cornell University — Climate Solutions and Global Water Sustainability — as part of a universitywide program to move toward active learning. Xoco joins NSF as a 2020–2021 AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow in the Office of Polar Programs, Arctic Division. Xoco is driven to help ecosystems thrive while advancing human wellbeing, and she is excited to continue to engage in policy work and community-based natural resource management in the Arctic.