Jéssica Malinalli Coyotecatl Contreras is a PhD candidate in the Anthropology Department at UC, Santa Barbara (UCSB). Her research focuses on (energy) infrastructure projects as socio-territorial transformations in central Mexico and in the United States. Jéssica pursues this investigation through three venues: 1) Her dissertation research, “Attacks on social reproduction in the subterranean connectivity infrastructure in Mexico’s Sovereign Energy Transition” engages with Indigenous and peasant struggles in central Mexico against extractivism (i.e. natural gas pipelines for electricity); 2) She studies oil Infrastructure abandonment in Central California through UCSB-community undertakings; and 3) She feminist responses to COVID-19 through the creation of the digital commons. Her research builds on a feminist perspective of social reproduction and anti-extractivism. She approaches research as a political commitment and with community partnerships.  Her work has been featured in peer-reviewed journals such as Regions & Cohesion (2021), Ciudades (2018) and Ecología Política: Cuadernos de Debate Internacional (2016). At UCSB, Jéssica is a graduate affiliate to the Environmental Justice/Climate Justice Studies Research Hub and a co-convener of the “Energy Justice in Global Perspective” Research Focus Group.

Jéssica was a research assistant for the GLP's inaugural "Proseminar: Grants and Fellowships Applications Workshop." In this capacity, she created a fellowship database for participants to find appropriate sources as well as track their submission processes. She also handled book permissions and image rights for the research part of the GLP.