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brie iatarola

Seventh College Synthesis Program UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive La Jolla, CA 92093-0503
U.S.A.
Email: biatarol@ucsd.edu

Appointment
2018-present: Lecturer
University of California, San Diego
Seventh College Synthesis Program

Education
PhD: UC San Diego Department of Communication
Concentration in Environmental Communication
Saved Forever?’: An Eco-Ethnography of Trestles’ Surfscape

MA: UC San Diego, Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies
Beyond the waves: economic and cultural effects of the global surf industry in El Tunco, El Salvador

BA: Arizona State University – Barrett, the Honors College
Mi Vida as a Tica

Additional languages: advanced Spanish & very basic Brazilian Portuguese

Publications
Peer-Reviewed Journals and Reports

Iatarola, B.M. (2026). Data Bitches, Citizen Science, and Sea-Level Rise. In: Mach, L. (eds) The Future of Surfing in the Anthropocene. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-09377-6_11

Grace-McCaskey, C. A., Iatarola, B., Manda, A. K., & Etheridge, J. R. (2019). Eco-Ethnography and Citizen Science: Lessons from Within. Society & Natural Resources, 32(10), 1123–1138. https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2019.1584343

Larsen, C., Iatarola, B. Hinds, J.B., Leiter, R., Pezzoli, K. and DeBay, A. (2017). “Urban Agriculture Suitability Analysis.” UC San Diego Superfund Research Center.

Iatarola, B. (2013). “Surf Tourism: Social Spatiality in El Tunco and El Sunzal, El Salvador.” The International Journal of Sport and Society 3:3: pp. 219-227.

Iatarola, B. “El Turismo de Surf y la Privatización del Acceso a Las Playas Salvadoreñas. (2015, September 7). El Faro Académico.

Conference Papers and Invited Lectures
“Alternative Grading in Environmental Education Contexts: Experiential, Community-Based Projects and Collaborative Grading.” California Environmental Education in Higher Ed: Advancing the Profession Lunch & Learn Series. Invited Participant, February 14, 2025.

“On Urban Nature.” Take a Triton to Class: Engaging with a Changing Planet | Triton Leaders Conference: Embracing Equity and Perspectives on Environmental Justice. Invited Participant, January 29, 2024.

“El Salvador’s Wavetopia & Trestles’ Surfscape.” The Surfing Historian Podcast | Dr. Jason Old. Invited Participant, November 1, 2023.

“Foraging for Food and the Aesthetics of Wilderness: A Case Study of Chefs vs. Wild.” 21st Binational Communication Meeting, Communication, solidarity and social justice / 21st Encuentro BINACOM, Comunicación, solidaridad y justicia social, April 21-22, 2023.

“Winter Pathways to Leadership Workshop,” UC San Diego Muir College Invited Participant, March 1, 2023.

“Women of the World,” UC San Diego International and Out-of-State Outreach Panel. Invited Participant, March 8, 2022.

“‘What Do You Mean by ‘Scalable?’: A Reflexive Analysis of Teaching STEM Students Collective and Inclusive Solutions for Climate Change in a First-Year Writing Program,” Université de Lorraine Science & You (Virtual) Conference, Metz, November 18, 2021.

“A Gray ‘Whale of a Problem’: Re-Mediating Dead Wildlife at Trestles,” International Environmental Communication Association 16th Conference on Communication and Environment, June 23, 2021.

“How to Save the Ocean,” UC San Diego Warren College Serve-to-Learn Panel, May 17, 2021. “Women of the World,” UC San Diego International and Out-of-State Outreach Panel. Invited Participant, March 8, 2021.

“Climate Change Technologies Workshop” UC San Diego Institute for Practical Ethics, San Diego, March 13, 2020 (postponed due to COVID-19).

“Summer Bridge Success,” UC San Diego Office of Academic Support & Instructional Services Summer Bridge Faculty Panel, San Diego. Invited Participant, August 9, 2019.

“Considerations and Questions for Managing Difference: Citizen Science v. Participatory Science,” panel co-organizer for the Society for Applied Anthropology’s 78th Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, April 6, 2018.

“Sea Level Rise and the Surfscape: The Battle to ‘Save Trestles,’” American Anthropological Association’s 116th Annual Meeting, Washington D.C., November 30, 2017.

“An Eco-Ethnography Experiment,” International Communication Association 67th Annual Conference, San Diego, May 26, 2017.

“The Unbearable Heaviness of Being a Dead Whale,” Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Annual Conference, San Diego, April 13, 2017.

“Coupling Citizen Science with (Eco)Ethnography to Understand Implications of Sea Level Rise,” Society for Applied Anthropology 77th Annual Meeting, Sante Fe, March 27, 2017.

“Six Americas, Surfing & Climate Change,” Dr. Jericho Burg course “Sociology of the Environment,” UCSD. Guest Lecture, March 10, 2017.

“The Challenges of Garden Volunteering,” Blum Federation UC Global Poverty Action Days: Poverty Action and the U.S.-Mexico Border Region, San Diego, April 19, 2017.

“The Future of Surfing Outside the Ocean,” Participant in SURF Park Summit 2, Orlando, September 7, 2016.

“Surf Tourism: Social Spatiality, Territoriality & the Environment in El Tunco, El Salvador,” UC Santa Barbara Global Studies Conference, Santa Barbara, October 21, 2015.

“Surf Tourism: Social Spatiality in El Tunco and El Sunzal, El Salvador,” Third International Conference on Sport and Society, Cambridge, July 23, 2012.

“Economic and Cultural Effects of the Global Surf Industry in El Salvador,” Tinker Foundation Graduate Symposium, San Diego, April 10, 2012.