Denise Moreno, MS
U.S.-Mexico Binational Center
One of Denise Moreno’s biggest challenges at work is interacting effectively with diverse personalities, viewpoints and backgrounds to promote an atmosphere of teamwork and unity.
As the program coordinator for the U.S.-Mexico Binational Center for Environmental Sciences and Toxicology at The University of Arizona, Moreno works on border community outreach and educating others about science information.
The binational center supports research on how to clean up environmental contaminants and sponsors meetings during which researchers speak to Mexican professionals and border communities about environmental science and toxicology. The center also provides training fellowships to Mexican PhD students and coordinates researchers studying arsenic and breast cancer, long-term effects of heavy metals on children’s health, and other problems that plague border communities.
Moreno, a native of the border Sister Cities of Nogales, attended Northern Arizona University to receive a bachelor of arts in Spanish and bachelor of science in environmental sciences degree in 2000. She received a master of science in watershed management from UA in 2005.
A few months after she graduated, the associate dean of the graduate college forwarded her the job description for the binational center. Moreno applied for the job and has been writing reports and proposals, organizing specialized workshops, assisting PhD fellowship students from Mexico, and interacting with collaborative researchers in Mexico ever since.
“It’s been a huge learning experience for me, from the administrative to the professional interactions” she says. “The communities along the border give me a lot of knowledge I can’t get from a university or a book. Every day they experience the environmental issues we are trying to solve.”
Moreno came to UA because she wanted to work along the U.S.-Mexico border, which is exactly what she’s been able to do through the Binational Center.
“I like the university system,” she says. “It gives me a lot of freedom to work on issues that I wouldn’t necessarily be able to work on if I worked at a state or federal agency, and I get to work on the ground with communities.”
She says she especially enjoys being able to transfer information produced by researchers into terms people on the border can understand and use to make informed decisions.
When she’s not reaching out to border communities, Moreno enjoys collecting vinyl records, hiking, birdwatching, bike riding and spending time with her family.
The U.S. Mexico Binational Center for Environmental Sciences and Toxicology is part of the UA Superfund Basic Research Program, a collaborative research effort that includes the College of Pharmacy. Find out more here