Isabel Rivera-Collazo is Assistant Professor on Ecological, Biological and Human Adaptations to Climate Change at the Department of Anthropology and Scripps Institution of Oceanography at University of California San Diego.

She has a Ph.D. in Environmental Archaeology from the Institute of Archaeology of University College London, specializing on human ecodynamics, landscape reconstruction, and human adaptations to climate and environmental change on islands and coastal/marine contexts.

Her laboratory techniques include geoarchaeology, archaeomalacology and marine ecology. Her research focuses on the effect that human activity has over island ecosystems through time, as well as how have people responded to climatic and environmental change in the past. Taking an applied approach, she also works with local communities in the quest for understanding the current and expected impacts of climate change, including threats to coastal heritage.

Dr. Rivera-Collazo is also Research Fellow of the Center for Applied Tropical Ecology and Conservation (CATEC) and the Laboratory for Environmental Archaeology at the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus.