Ruchi Patel
Ruchi Patel is a Ph.D. student in Geography and Human Dimensions of Natural Resources and the Environment at Penn State. She is interested in the social and environmental impacts of development and land use policy in Latin America, especially on rural, low-income, and marginalized communities. Since 2018, Patel has worked with nonprofit organizations and other collaborators in El Salvador to understand diverse environmental, conservation, and development challenges at local, subnational, and national scales. Her current research examines the uneven geographies of nature-based tourism development (i.e., beach, surf) on the country’s Balsamo Coast. Prior to graduate school, Patel worked for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and served with the Peace Corps in Paraguay.