Deyanira Nevarez Martinez has a Ph.D. in Urban and Environmental Planning and Policy from the University of California, Irvine. She is currently a faculty member in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning in the School of Planning, Design and Construction at Michigan State University.

Her research focuses on the role of the state in informal and precarious housing, such as the colonias of the US-Mexico border. A major theme in her work is the criminalization of poverty. Additionally, her work has looked at issues of gentrification, racial equity in land use and transportation, racial segregation, and bail reform.