The Team

Kirsten Lake
Program Coordinator, Southwest Urban Corridor Integrated Field Laboratory (SW-IFL)

Kirsten Lake provides program coordination for the Southwest Urban Corridor Integrated Field Laboratory (SW-IFL) at the University of Arizona. SW-IFL is a multi-institution program funded by the Department of Energy that studies the challenges that increasingly extreme weather poses to Arizona’s largest cities. Research at UArizona focuses on promoting heat equity and urban heat resilience for community members through integration of observational data, large-scale modeling and decision-making processes of stakeholders.

Prior to joining CAPLA, Kirsten served as a program coordinator for a variety of UArizona programs, including the Chilton Lab at BIO5, the Center for Precision Nutrition and Wellness and Boyce Thompson Arboretum’s Legumes of Arizona project. In addition to her work in project coordination, she has served as the editor for the journal Desert Plants and a botanical reference book. All of her work has been informed by her passion for science outreach and education.

Anne-Lise Boyer, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Climate Assessment for the Southwest (CLIMAS)

Anne-Lise Boyer is a postdoctoral research associate with Climate Assessment for the Southwest (CLIMAS) at the University of Arizona. CLIMAS is a Climate Adaptation Partnership (CAP), funded by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, that includes experts from social, physical, and natural sciences who collaborate with partners across the Southwest to develop sustainable solutions for regional climate challenges. Under the guidance of Associate Professor of Planning and Sustainable Built Environments Ladd Keith, Anne-Lise’s work aims to bridge climate science and decision-making to advance heat resilience in rural, tribal, and border communities in the U.S. Southwest.

Before joining the College of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape Architecture, Anne-Lise was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the International Research Lab Iglobes (CNRS-UA), hosted by Biosphere 2. There, she worked on drought resilience and climate change adaptation, contributing to an interdisciplinary research project on intermittent bodies of water. Her focus was on the relationship of local communities to heavily disturbed and changing waterscapes. Anne-Lise earned her Ph.D. in Geography and Planning from the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon in France, where she examined drought resilience and water conservation strategies implemented by desert metropolises. Originally from France, Anne-Lise developed a keen interest in the socioecological challenges faced by the Sonoran Desert since her first visit to Tucson as an exchange student in 2015. Her research aims to enhance the sustainability and livability of communities by critically examining and addressing the complex interactions between social and environmental questions.