Biography

Sonya Brooks is a PhD candidate and MPH-trained policy researcher with expertise in campus basic needs, sustainability, student well-being, and dignity-centered food access. Experienced in mixed-methods research, spatial ethnography, environmental design audits, messy data analysis, communications, tabling, focus groups, and systemwide governance, her current work includes The Architecture of Hunger and Designing Food Spaces that Restore Dignity, as well as projects examining how campus food environments shape belonging, stigma, and help-seeking.

As a Bonnie Reiss Leading on Climate Fellow, Sonya’s project will be a continuation of last year’s project aiming to establish a Comprehensive Food Recovery Plan to support the reduction of food insecurity on campus and compliance with SB 1383.