I currently reside on the territory of Xučyun (Huichin), the ancestral and unceded land of the Chochenyo Ohlone, the successors of the historic and sovereign Verona Band of Alameda County. I recognize benefit from the use and occupation of this land.. By offering this Land Acknowledgement, I affirm Indigenous sovereignty. Thank you to Native American Student Development for their labor and guidance on this land acknowledgement. 

Hi there!

I’m Gauthami Penakalapati. I’m a PhD student in the Energy & Resources Groupat UC Berkeley. My research is interdisciplinary and intersects global development, public health, science & technology studies, and climate change adaptation. I approach my work from a feminist and de/colonial lens and utilize mixed-methods research strategies, including social network analysis, interviews, and discourse analysis. 

Prior to Berkeley, I was a technical advisor for UNICEF exploring the menstrual hygiene management challenges for adolescent schoolgirls in Ghana, Rwanda, and Zambia. I also conducted extensive systematic reviews assessing the impacts of sanitation on health and the human health impacts from exposure to animal feces. I was research assistant with the WASH-Benefits randomized-control trial in Bungoma, Kenya where I managed behavioral change interventions and helped develop a low-cost handwashing system. View my CV for more information on my publications and teaching. 

I am currently a Facebook Research Fellow, the Graduate Womxn’s Project Director, and Wiki-verified for the f-diagram.