Isabel González Méndez

Isabel González Méndez is a second-year PhD student in the School of Geography, Development and Environment and the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, and she is part of the Past Landscapes Lab  led by Dr. Kevin Anchukaitis. Her research focuses on understanding past, present, and future climate variability in tropical regions—specifically the tropical Americas. To address this, Isabel develops new tree-ring proxy records and combines them with high-resolution climate-model simulations to better constrain how precipitation responds to coupled ocean–atmosphere dynamics across both modern and paleoclimate timescales.

Isabel earned her master’s degree in Geography from the University of Arizona, where she investigated new tree species in the tropical lowlands to establish their suitability for reconstructing past climate variability in Mesoamerica. Prior to joining the University of Arizona, she completed her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Sciences at Universidad Rafael Landívar in Guatemala. She then worked as a climate-change researcher in the Department of Research and Meteorological Services at the National Institute of Seismology, Volcanology, Meteorology, and Hydrology (INSIVUMEH). Born and raised in Guatemala—surrounded by volcanoes and mountains—Isabel enjoys music, poetry, running, and swimming outside of research.