Angel Manuel De Dios López

Graduate Student

Biography

I am a critical human geographer studying at the intersection of political ecologies, border studies, and water justice. As a transfronterizx first-generation low-income (FLI) college student, my lived experience informs and motivates my research.

I am a scholar-activist, artivist, and community organizer working between the Imperial-Mexicali borderlands. I am a founding member of the Comité de Justicia Ambiental de la Frontera, a transborder environmental justice organization that advocates against environmental injustices and researches environmental justice issues at the US///Mexico border.

Before UCLA, I was a community organizer on Stanford’s campus focusing on environmental justice through my roles as an instructor for the Just Transitions Policy Lab and a member of multiple groups. I led the first environmental justice week at Stanford, alongside Stanford’s first Farmworker Symposium, focusing on migrant and Indigenous farmworking communities from the Bay Area to Florida.

I write poetry and plan to use my research to inform my work. My upcoming digital art zine/book, “Kingdom of Water and Sand: A Brief History of the Colorado River at the Border from Colonization to the 1970s,” includes digital art and poetry to help community members learn about the history of water extraction and the geographical colonial development of the Imperial-Mexicali borderlands.

Education

2026 M.A. Earth Systems (Concentration in Environmental Communication), Stanford University

2026 B.A. with Honors in Urban Studies (Concentration in Urban Society and Social Change) and Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (Concentration in Race, Space, and Belonging), Stanford University

Research

I am researching the intersections of memory, borders, and water at the Imperial-Mexicali Borderlands. Taking a transfronterizx approach, I hope to study how spatial memory of water may inform the political ecologies of the region.

In my undergraduate thesis, I asked and answer the following question: how has settler colonialism shaped the geography of the Colorado River at the U.S.-Mexico Border? By framing it through a transborder analysis, the thesis observes both sides of the border to understand the geography. To further the conversation, this thesis delves into a theory of sedimentation, proposing that colonialism builds upon each layer, and that using a transborder analysis of each layer helps us see how the colonial process persists today. This thesis delves into the beginning of colonialism to the 1970s. The thesis proposes colonization layers over time in two stages: 1) the river’s terraformation through visualization and materialization, 2) the river’s allocation of waters to prioritize settlement, state-building, and the extractive industry of the metropole. Drawing on archival materials, the paper discusses the colonial histories of the Colorado River in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands.

In summary, the thesis asks: How has the sedimentation of colonialism manifested itself in the Colorado River? How has settler colonialism shaped the geography of the Colorado River at the U.S.-Mexico Border? And how may those histories inform present-day engagement of the river?

Political Ecologies, U.S./// Mexico Borderlands, Decolonial Theory, Critical Geographies, Environmental Justice, Abolitionist Theory, Social Change, Water Justice

Grants & Awards

William W. Whitley Citizen Scholar
First Generation and/or Low Income Unity Award
Dorothy Steele Award for Community Outreach, Engagement, and Social Justice
Stanford In Government in Partnerships with Environment and Policy Internships (EPIC) Fellowship
Partnerships for Climate Justice in the Bay Area Fellowship
VPUE Major Grant Recipient

Advisors

Lieba Faier