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Her research in Coastal Planning combines principles of collaborative governance, social and environmental justice, land-use planning, oceanography, marine spatial analysis, geo-morphology, decision support systems theory and deep uncertainty, among other relevant disciplines.

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Her more recent work in decision support for coastal residents, planners, and elected officials deals with the selection of critical adaptation measures in the Gulf of Mexico that may be replicated nationwide. Working as part of an international consortium of scientists and professionals, her work featured the design of adaptation measures to increase natural resiliency and to create adaptive capacity against the future effects of climate change added to the expected effects of future development. The adaptation action plan being proposed for the area creates a holistic approach at a socio-ecological level that will help coastal communities and coastal environments to thrive as one. Over the next hundred years, these adaptation plans will help transform vulnerable communities living on deltas, coastal lagoons, and wetlands of extreme world-wide ecological value into more resilient and desirable places.

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Claudia is also collaborating with former members of the California Coastal Commission and the cities of Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties in Climate Change Adaptation education and outreach to Public Elected Officials. Under the direction of the Beach Erosion Authority for Clean Oceans and Nourishment, Claudia is expanding into pathways for the implementation of sediment management, beach nourishment, and shoreline management strategies as Coastal Adaptation Policy. The intended result is to mainstream those policies into Local Coastal Plans and other Coastal Policy instruments to guide future adaptive development in the area.

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For the last five years, Claudia has been the California coordinator for an international knowledge exchange between the Netherlands and the United States (USNC) focused on coastal engineering and water governance. These efforts are being expanded to the new center for global resiliency, an initiative with the European Development Bank, and to also include the United Kingdom in the international knowledge exchange to study financing methods for Climate Change adaptation world-wide.

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 Her academic research in Social and Environmental Justice in the United States studied chronic exposure of multiple generations of culturally diverse ethnic groups and families with members with special needs. Some of her projects have helped her to identify the water-related needs of disadvantaged communities in Los Angeles and to improve the efficiency of emergency evacuation plans in multiple mega-cities of the United States. These studies addressed issues of access, safety and equity in the context of natural hazards, earthquakes, flooding, coastal erosion, climate change and exposure to hazardous materials.

 

As an oceanographer, Claudia has worked as research staff for Scrips Institution of Oceanography, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the University of Southern California. As project manager, senior GIS analyst, and coordinator for the ACOE, Claudia has led bilingual outreach and community engagement efforts for various publicly funded projects. Claudia has also provided technical and scientific advice to regional and state wide multi-agency collaboration efforts, such as the California Sediment Management Master Plan, and has managed coastal studies in excess of 50 million dollars per year.

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