Michelle Ruiz

Michelle Ruiz is a PhD candidate in the geography department at the University of Florida and a Bill Anderson Fund Fellow. Her research interests center around the societal impacts of weather and climate, social vulnerability, risk communication, and risk perception. Her most recent research project focuses on risk perception and risk communication for rapidly intensifying hurricanes within Spanish-speaking communities. She has also worked on reframing the current framework of the Social Vulnerability Index to develop a new index to empower marginalized communities and on assessing the predictability of homeowners’ property damage losses post-Hurricane Michael using the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Social Vulnerability Index indicators.

Prior to starting her doctoral program, Ruiz was a higher education professional at various institutions across the country. She earned her master of science degree in geography at Texas A&M University. For her master’s thesis research, she assessed the potential effect of climate change on hurricane risk and vulnerability for Florida. Ruiz earned her bachelor of science in geography at the University of Florida. Originally from Bogotá, Colombia, Ruiz enjoys mountainous landscapes and a good cup of coffee. She was raised in South Florida, which instilled in her a love for the beach. Outside of academia, Ruiz enjoys live music, reading mystery and fantasy books, and spending time with her family and cats, Chili and Mavis.