Dr. Marisol Becerra is a Program Officer in the Environment Program at The Joyce Foundation, where she leads the Foundation’s climate solutions portfolio, with a focus on state and regional climate and energy policy in the Great Lakes region. Since joining Joyce in 2024, she has helped shape the Foundation’s evolving environment program strategy, supported grantee partners through a shifting policy and funding landscape, and advanced new work at the intersection of energy infrastructure, climate resilience, and community impact. Her work includes leading grantmaking related to clean and affordable energy, engaging with funders and researchers on the environmental and equity implications of emerging development, such as data centers, and representing the Foundation in public forums on climate and energy research and policy.
Dr. Becerra’s experience spans grassroots organizing, federal policymaking, and academic research. She began her career as a youth organizer in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood working to reduce pollution from coalfired power plants, later served as a Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Graduate Fellow supporting environmental policy in the office of U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth, and was an Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the University of Illinois Chicago. Dr. Becerra earned her Ph.D. in Environment and Natural Resources from The Ohio State University, an M.S. in Environmental Policy and Environmental Justice from the University of Michigan, and a B.A. in Public Policy Studies from DePaul University.