MESM 2024
Pronouns: she/her
Bio
Danielle Hoekstra graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2022 with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science. From the beginning Danielle knew she wanted to protect the planet's natural resources and places she enjoys spending so much time in. During her undergraduate career, Danielle worked as a quality control intern with a mechanical and aerospace engineering company. As an intern, Danielle created programs for computer inspection of aerospace parts and repaired wind turbine machine heads to operational standards. This experience prompted her to pursue a minor concentration in Civil and Environmental Engineering while at UCLA. As a Division 1 Women’s rower, Danielle practiced adjacent to the Ballona Creek Watershed and witnessed the environmental effects of plastic pollution. Passionate about researching solutions to minimize the human impact on our environment, Danielle partnered with the Westwood Neighborhood Greenway during her senior project. The Greenway is a neighborhood-driven project that daylights a stream through a community green space to filter harmful pollutants from dry and wet weather runoff. Danielle led the project’s biodiversity research efforts and created a site-specific biodiversity index to emphasize the numerous benefits of urban green space on native flora and fauna. This project sparked a passion to engage with communities and implement environmental solutions. Danielle is excited to dive deeper into coastal environmental issues and eco-entrepreneurship at Bren through the Coastal Marine Resources and Corporate Environmental Management specializations.