State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Staff Spotlight: Mariví Perdomo Caba

The Staff Spotlight series features Earth Institute staff members from across the Morningside, Lamont and the Irving Medical Center campuses. The series is intended to highlight the important work our staff members do to keep the Earth Institute running smoothly and to support our mission of guiding the world onto more sustainable paths. These interviews discuss staff members’ careers, their interest in our institute, and insights that might be relatable and useful for the rest of us.

This month’s spotlight is on Mariví Perdomo Caba, program manager for Columbia University’s graduate programs in Sustainability Management and Sustainability Science.

Mariví Perdomo Caba in winter hat
Mariví Perdomo Caba is the program manager for our graduate programs in Sustainability Management and Sustainability Science.

What connected and motivated you to join the Earth Institute?

A few years ago, I was looking for graduate programs that were flexible enough to allow me to work and advance a project on coastal resiliency that was very close to my heart — and back then, my home — in the Dominican Republic. I found the M.S. in Sustainability Management program, I applied, and moved to the U.S. when I was accepted. I have been around ever since.

Mariví Perdomo Caba with baby stroller in front of Low LibraryWhat aspects do you find most interesting in your job?

As program manager, I get to be in a great position because I see people evolve from prospective students interested in learning more about our programs by attending an information session or coordinating to observe a class session, to applicants who become students in our programs and then graduates and alumni. It is great to see alumni giving back to their programs and even recruiting current students in diverse positions in the sustainability field. I get to work with a fantastic and very hard-working team. Not everyone can say that their work involves interacting daily with people who deeply care about what happens around them and want to be an active part of making sustainable practices the norm!

How are students responding to the changing environment due pandemic?

I admire the resiliency and creativity of our students, especially students who completed the entire program enrolling full time in a hybrid modality. It was almost unbearable to witness all the changes around us. Imagine, on top of all the uncertainty, how hard it must have been for students who had recently moved to New York to attend our programs and decided to stay with the hopes of having the in-person experience at Columbia. We received messages and feedback from students scattered around the globe as well as students who decided to stay, and the idea of adapting and learning from this was the common goal. A few days into working/studying from home, the events that the student groups organized to be in-person started migrating to online platforms. They were still being vocal about the issues they cared about, even more so when they were able to connect with others all over the world.

How do you spend time outside of work?

I try to spend as much time with my family as I can. I cook (I eat) and read a lot. I’m an architect by training, so I spend a lot of time thinking about how things could look better and work efficiently. We recently moved to a house, so a lot of my free time is spent on home improvements.

Mariví Perdomo Caba jumping in snow

Any thoughts on what our ‘new normal’ might look like?

I believe we will implement many of the lessons and ideas we have learned and have been able to let mature. I trust it will include more than the lessons we learned during this unusually long pause. Our new normal will include more sharing (of goods, spaces, and tasks), and appreciating others. I think we will also see more efficient processes, as people experienced working in a different setup and had to respond.

Judy Jamal is a coordinator in the Director’s Office at the Earth Institute, Columbia University. 

Science for the Planet: In these short video explainers, discover how scientists and scholars across the Columbia Climate School are working to understand the effects of climate change and help solve the crisis.
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