Karen Lopez-Olmedo

Karen Denisse López Olmedo is an engineer in Renewable Energies from Oaxaca, Mexico, and holds a master's degree in project management for Solidarity Development from the National Polytechnic Institute of Mexico. She recently completed her master's in Biorenewable Systems at The Pennsylvania State University. Her studies focus on the productive diversification of natural resources for energy purposes and their social implications in technology adoption. Additionally, she is a co-founder of the Organization Pueblos Originarios de Oaxaca, whose objective is to rescue, preserve, and disseminate the cultural heritage of her state. Currently, she is an assistant researcher at the College of Agricultural Science, conducting an analysis of the connections between agrivoltaics, knowledge exchange, rural livelihoods, and environmental sustainability in Pennsylvania (PA). She also collaborates with the Mid-Atlantic Sustainable Biomass Consortium for Value-Added Products (MASBio), a USDA NIFA-funded project to promote sustainability and the bioeconomy. Lastly, as the GLAG en español coordinator for The Global Teach Ag Network, she is in charge of programming, translating existing resources for accessibility, and assisting with various GTAN to promote diversity and inclusion.