Christina Torres is a New York City-based Ph.D. candidate, adjunct assistant professor, and climate advocate.
My Background
When I was a kid growing up on Staten Island, I begged my parents to bring me to the American Museum of Natural History almost every weekend.
My motivation to share this love of the natural world with everyone around me has brought me to work in ecology, entrepreneurship, and education.
I’m a Ph.D. candidate in Science Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. I conduct climate change education research and serve as the center coordinator at the TC Center for Sustainable Futures. As part of this work, I’m helping develop a transdisciplinary climate summer institute for NYC public school teachers in collaboration with the Learning the Earth with Artificial Intelligence and Physics (LEAP) Center at Columbia.
My research interests focus on studying science learning in youth climate activism spaces.
I engage in climate activism in and outside of campus as the Co-President of the Sustainability Task Force and previously as a 2020-2022 Arthur Zankel Fellow for the Youth At The Center project.
I’ve been teaching an Ecology and Environmental Problems course to sustainable fashion students at the Fashion Institute of Technology since Fall 2018. I also serves as the Faculty Advisor for the Ethics and Sustainability Student Club from 2020-2024.
I previously completed a B.S./M.S. in Biology at The City College of New York Honors Program. I researched the community composition of wood-boring beetles (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) in Dr. Amy Berkov’s lab through the NSF-REU and RISE programs. I presented this work to my local community, at professional conferences (ABRCMS, ICE), and participated in science communication initiatives related to this research.
My drive to help others understand STEM concepts brought me to the Zahn Innovation Center startup incubator on CCNY campus to create the company See Thru (formerly Skinno). We developed a SaaS technology that automatically communicated ingredient function to consumers while they are shopping for personal care products online, and were part of the 2019 Sephora Accelerate Global Cohort.