Research Assistant Professor

Expertise: Community resilience, community energy, urban policy, spatial analysis

Career Highlights:

Maria P. Perez Arguelles, Ph.D., is a research assistant professor at the Hobby School of Public Affairs. She has worked as a research associate at the Hobby School’s Center for Public Policy (CPP) since 2020, where she has supported research projects on Texas Trends, community resilience, natural hazards, Texas Metro Blueprint, and more.  

Perez has been guest lecturer for the Master of Public Policy capstone class and co-teaches a workshop on the Data Science for Energy Transition, a multi-university summer program supported by the National Science Foundation to train college students with skills needed in diversifying the energy industry. Her research interests focus on sustainability, community resilience to natural hazards, community energy and urban policy using spatial, quantitative and survey methods to develop data-driven, equity-centered solutions that inform policymaking.

Perez holds a B.S. in Economics from Universidad the Los Andes in Bogota Colombia, and a M.S. in Agricultural Economics and Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Science from Texas A&M University.