Maria Claudia López, an assistant professor at the Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia. She is an economist, specializing in natural resources and environmental economics with a master's in rural development from the Universidad Javeriana in Colombia, and a PhD in Resource Economics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She also completed a 2 year postdoctoral fellowship working with Elinor Ostrom at the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indiana University on issues of governance, common property, and institutional analysis. Her research uses multiple methods, including field experiments from behavioral economics, institutional analysis, econometrics, ethnography, and participatory research, to understand how rural communities can collaborate successfully in the management of commonly held natural resources. She is firmly committed to participating in work projects that have both theoretical significance and practical benefits for the communities she work with. She have conducted experiments in behavioral economics in Colombia, Spain, and Peru, and she is also developing research in other countries.