Carmen Rosario is currently pursuing a Master of City & Regional Planning with a focus on Environment, Health, and Community Development at Rutgers University. With a background in Child Advocacy & Policy from Montclair State University, Carmen is committed to community advocacy and resiliency. She has developed strong expertise in community engagement and sustainability through various roles in urban planning, public health, and education. As a graduate assistant at the Rutgers Green Building Center, she contributed to research on urban heat islands and the impacts of air pollution on vulnerable populations in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Prior to Rutgers, Carmen worked as a community garden coordinator for an urban farm non-profit, supporting sustainability projects and collaborating with local organizations to improve food access and foster community engagement. During the COVID-pandemic she was a crisis counselor at a resettlement agency assisting humanitarian migrants. Her international experience includes a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in Gran Canaria, Spain, where she led a community garden revitalization project at her host school.