Ava-Rose Beech
Earth Scholar

Marie C. Fleming
Environmental and Climate Justice Scholar 

Lupe Franco
Environmental and Climate Justice Scholar

Ava-Rose, a Ph.D. student in the Graduate Group in Ecology and UC Rangelands Lab, focuses on research examining how stacked climate smart ranching techniques impact soil ecosystem multifunctionality and native species restoration in California rangelands that includes collaboration and outreach to ranchers, community members, and schools.

Marie is a Ph.D. student in the Graduate Group in Ecology. Fleming’s work seeks to research pathways for the revitalization of Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge to inform the co-designing of a larger community-centered biocultural land restoration and re-envisioning project in northeastern Madagascar.

Lupe, a Ph.D. student in the Geography Graduate Group, undertakes research recognizing that climate change disproportionately affects communities with pre-existing challenges and focuses on centering underrepresented populations, such as the unhoused, in equitable climate change policy that meets procedural justice.

Heather Lieb
Earth Scholar

Connor Magee
Environmental and Climate Justice Scholar

Mehrab Nodehi
Earth Scholar

Heather is a Ph.D. student in the Agricultural and Environmental Chemistry Graduate Group. Heather examines how soil emissions contribute to air pollution precursors in the Salton Sea Air Basin in collaboration with Comité Cívico del Valle. Heather is also helping guide community participation in mural designs for the Institute’s California Climate Art Trail.

Connor is a Ph.D. student in the Graduate Group in Ecology. Magee’s project will support and cultivate an Indigenous-led working group as part of an ongoing effort to develop equitable pathways for uplifting Indigenous perspectives and values in coastal resilience initiatives in Southern California.

Mehrab is a Ph.D. student in Civil and Environmental Engineering whose work is based on previous research on using nature-based earthen construction to increase the wildfire resilience of underserved and/or economically disadvantaged communities. His research aims to develop new methods to advance affordable and sustainable earthen construction and increase wildfire resilience.

Dylan Moore
Environmental and Climate Justice Scholar

Laura Alcocer Quiñones
Earth Scholar

Anuj Vaidya
Environmental and Climate Justice Scholar

Dylan, a first-year Ph.D. student in the Graduate Group in Geography and a second-year M.S. student in the Community Development Graduate Group, is pursuing research examining how cultural burning practitioners and advocates are increasing the willingness of public land agencies to co-manage with Tribal Nations and organizations.

Laura is a Ph.D. student in Agricultural and Resource Economics. Quiñones’ research includes pairing detailed water samplings with infant health data to estimate how notifications for the presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in drinking water affect birth outcomes such as birthweight and birth anomalies.

Anuj, a Ph.D. student in the Performance Studies Graduate Group, is pursuing a project that centers stories of land and water in Yolo County and invites the community to participate in guided soundwalks across the region to learn about Wintun homeland perspectives on ecology and environmental stewardship.

Alyx Volzer
Earth Scholar

Alyx is a Ph.D. student in the Geography Graduate Group and the Community Development Department. Volzer’s work will aid our understanding of securing the social determinants of health and mental health in a world made more precarious by climate change and considers how successful recovery from climate-induced disasters is influenced by pre-disaster socioeconomic conditions.