Nina Ebner

Nina Ebner serves as Assistant Professor of Social Geography at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art within the Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences. Her work bridges feminist, urban, and economic geography through transnational research frameworks.

Her educational background includes:

• PhD in Geography from University of British Columbia
• MSc in Community Development from University of California, Davis
• BA in Labor History from Yale University

Ebner's research investigates how uneven socio-spatial relations create unjust urban political economies, with particular focus on the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. She examines intersections between industrialization, border militarization, economic precarity, and climate change through qualitative, collaborative methodologies. Her work reveals how geopolitical borders shape racialized hierarchies of labor value and environmental vulnerability, particularly through the lens of extreme heat and municipal responses to climate stressors.

Ebner's scholarly contributions appear in leading journals including Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Economic Geography, and Environment and Planning A. She is developing the book Lives on the Line analyzing the U.S.-Mexico border as a site of economic 'competitiveness' built on low-wage labor and border enforcement.

Her awards include:

• Urban Studies Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship at Colegio de México

Ebner actively collaborates with graduate and undergraduate students on research projects while maintaining partnerships with Clark University and University of Toronto scholars. Her current collaborative project examines urban political ecologies in border regions through the prism of climate crisis impacts. She previously held postdoctoral positions at UT Austin's Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice.

Her research lab focuses on transnational geographies of social reproduction, investigating how restructured social protection policies reshape precarious labor landscapes in border cities.