Kaitlyn Noli graduated in 2011 from California Lutheran University with a B.A. in international studies. After graduation Kaitlyn began working as a research fellow on a funded faculty-student research project titled “Promoting Environmental Justice in Ventura County: Integrating Science into Civic Engagement.” This project is affiliated with California Lutheran University and is funded by the California Wellness Foundation. Her role on this project focuses on collaborating with community-based organizations in Oxnard, CA to help assess the civic capacity of residents and mobilize this farm worker, immigrant community around local environmental issues.

Kaitlyn continued this project as a graduate student researcher. Her thesis, "The Role of Political Empowerment in Challenging Environmental Injustice: A Case Study in Oxnard, California" explores how processes such as immigration have left many people disenfranchised and lacking the political voice necessary to promote equality and social justice and seeksto understand howpolitical empowerment can be used as a means to challenge environmental injustice in low-income, immigrant communities. Kaitlyn completed her degree in Spring 2013.