Nicole Smith
PhD Student
Nicole Smith (she/her) is a PhD student in the Department of Anthropology at UCLA, and is a terrestrial and underwater archaeologist. She holds her BA and MA in Anthropology from the University of Michigan and UCLA, respectively. Nicole’s doctoral research focuses on the relationship among climate change, migration, and heritage in Arizona and Roatán, Honduras. She is particularly interested in human-environment interactions and how heritage is preserved and/or transformed across borders. Her current work in Arizona specifically focuses on the cultural history of the Sonoran Desert where she is examining the range of actors who have shaped the ecology of this landscape over the last century— from miners and hippies to undocumented migrants and federal border enforcers. Nicole has conducted fieldwork in Arizona, Florida, Mexico, Honduras, St. Croix, and Spain.
