Holly Jean Buck is a research fellow at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. She’s interested in how communities can be involved in the design of emerging environmental technologies. She works at the interface of environmental sociology, international development, and science and technology studies. Her diverse research interests include agroecology and carbon farming, new energy technologies, artificial intelligence, and the restoration of California’s Salton Sea.

At present, she is studying the socio-political feasibility of using solar geoengineering to scale up carbon removal. She has written on several aspects of climate engineering, including humanitarian and development approaches to geoengineering, gender considerations, and human rights issues. Currently, she is focused on how policy for large-scale carbon removal can better address the social implications.

Prior to her academic life, she has worked as a foreign affairs analyst, a geospatial technician for a remote sensing company, and a creative writing teacher. She holds a doctorate in development sociology from Cornell University and a MSc in human ecology from Lund University, Sweden.