Robert J. Garcia
Academic Coordinator II for the UC Irvine CLIMATE Justice Initiative
Biography
Robert J. Garcia is an Academic Coordinator II for the UC Irvine CLIMATE Justice Initiative, where he has served since 2023. He earned his Ph.D. in Psychology and Social Behavior from the University of California, Irvine, his M.A. in Social Ecology from UC Irvine, and his B.S. in Cognitive Science summa cum laude from the University of California, Los Angeles. Garcia has over 13 years of experience in research design, management, and analysis across academic, nonprofit, and private sector settings.
Garcia's research focuses on environmental psychology, group decision-making, and climate policy attitudes. He has authored multiple peer-reviewed publications in journals including Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice and Psychiatry, Psychology and Law. His work examines public attitudes toward climate change policy, the role of blame attributions in environmental decision-making, and social influences on group behavior. Garcia has presented his research at national conferences including the Society for Personality and Social Psychology annual meeting and has collaborated with organizations such as the Environmental Defense Fund and various community-based groups.
In his current role at UC Irvine, Garcia co-designed and manages the NSF-funded CLIMATE Justice Initiative program curriculum, providing mentorship to 29 program participants and facilitating cross-disciplinary research partnerships. He has previously served as Director of Advocacy and Outreach at Tri-County Health Network, where he managed vaccination outreach programs and supervised nine staff members. Garcia has also worked as a Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Environmental Defense Fund and as a Research Analyst at Business Intelligence Advisors, demonstrating expertise in statistical analysis using SPSS, R, and Stata.
Return to topEducation
- Ph.D. in Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine
- M.A. in Social Ecology, University of California, Irvine
- B.S. in Cognitive Science, University of California, Los Angeles
Areas of Expertise
- Environmental Psychology Research
- Climate Change Policy Attitudes
- Social Influence Group Dynamics
- Quantitative Data Analysis Methods
- Community Engagement Advocacy Programs
- Conservative Opposition Climate Policy
- Environmental Justice Initiative Design
- Multicultural Vaccination Campaign Management
- Fortune 500 Earnings Analysis
- Anime Convention Attendee Research
Recent Publications
- Garcia, R. J., Shaw, E., Scurich, N., “Normative and informational influence in group decision making: Effects of majority opinion and anonymity on voting behavior and belief change”, Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 2021.
- Garcia, R. J., “What drives support for policy solutions to climate change? The role of perceived solution efficacy and blame attributions”, 2020. Presented at Annual Society for Personality and Social Psychology conference, New Orleans, LA, February 2020.
- Schuldt, J., Song, H., Lewis, N., Ballew, M., Bravo, M., Davydova, J., Gao, H., Garcia, R.J., Hiltner, S., Naiman, S., Pearson, A., Romero-Canyas, R., “What counts as an "environmental" issue? Differences in environmental issue conceptualization across race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status”, 2019.
- Grady, R. H., Reiser, L., Garcia, R. J., Koeu, C., Scurich, N., “Impact of gruesome photographic evidence on legal decisions: A meta-analysis”, Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, pp. 1-19, 2018.
- Garcia, R. J., McGee, M., Tingen, I., “Power Level Productions Anime convention attendee research”, 2017. Presented at Annual Anime Expo convention, Santa Ana, CA, July 2017.
- Scurich, N., Krauss, D. A., Reiser, L. A., Garcia, R. J., Deer, L., “Venire jurors' perceptions of adversarial allegiance”, Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, vol. 21, pp. 161-168, 2015.
- Garcia, R. J., Young, N., Heckhausen, J., Levine, L., “Social influences on task motivation: Asch's conformity studies revisited”, 2013. Presented at Annual Society for Personality and Social Psychology conference, New Orleans, LA, February 2013.
- Chen, D., Holyoak, K., Garcia, R. J., “Enhancing acquisition of intuition versus planning in problem solving”, 2010. Presented at Annual SPUR-AGEP symposium, Los Angeles, CA.
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Last updated on 7/24/2025.