Olivia Ildefonso (she/her) is a PhD student in Earth and Environmental Sciences with a specialization in Human Geography at the Graduate Center of the City of New York. She studies school segregation in New York. Her research focuses on the current ‘opt out’ movement against ‘high-stakes’ standardized testing.  Olivia is also a racial justice activist and has been working on campaigns to address residential and school segregation on Long Island since 2008. She has worked for civil rights organization, ERASE Racism since 2010 and she has served on the board of directors for STRONG Youth since 2013.

Before becoming a GC Digital Fellow, Olivia was an Adjunct Lecturer at Queens College and a Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) fellow at John Jay College.