Research

My research is focused on building an equitable, resilient energy system. This includes understanding injustices and vulnerabilities in the current system and identifying decarbonization strategies. My work primarily fits into four focus areas: climate and environemntal justice impacts of the electricity sector; climate and environmental justice impacts of transportation systems; access to clean energy technologies (in particular electric vehicles); and resilience and climate impacts. I take an interdisciplinary approach to my work and use methods including geospatial modeling, air quality modeling, statistical analysis, surveys, and interviews. I strive to make my work applicable to policymakers, practitioners, and academics alike.

Focus Areas

Climate and environmental justice impacts of the electricity sector:

My work in this area has focused on understanding air quality and climate impacts of electricity consumption in the United States, and characterizing disparities in residential proximity to power plants. Current work in this area includes assessing the air quality and health impacts of each power plant in the United States to identify plants to target for retirement in order to improve air quality and health outcomes in vulnerable communities.

Climate and environmental justice impacts of transportation systems:

Decarbonization of the transportation system is essential to achieving climate mitigation targets at all levels. My work in this area has focused on assessing the health and climate impacts of various transport decarbonization strategies, with an emphasis on heavy-duty vehicle electrification. I use fleet turnover models, vehicle dynamics models, and reduced-complexity air quality models to understand the effects of various policy and technology-based strategies for reducing emissions. In addition to assessing overall changes in health and climate impacts in various scenarios, I assess the distribution of benefits and costs and disparities across sociodemographic categories. Planned work in this area includes assessing potential health, climate, and equity impacts of hydrogen long-haul freight trucks.

Access to clean energy technologies:

My work in this area has focused on analyzing trends and understanding barriers to electric vehicle adoption. With a focus on California, I have compared adoption rates and rebates awarded in zip codes with differing sociodemographic characteristics, highlihgting low adoption rates and rebate awards in low-income, Black, and Latino-majority zip codes and in formerly redlined neighborhoods. In Sonoma County, I conducted interviews in low-income, underrepresented communities to understand perceptions of electric vehicles and barriers to clean mobility. Current work includes development of a national survey on vehicle ownership to understand how people make decisions about their vehicles, and their perceptions and preferences related to electric vehicles. Planned work in this area includes a detailed assessment of access to home, workplace, and public electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

Resilience and climate impacts:

Recently, I have expanded my work into the areas of resilience and climate impacts. My work in this area has focused on assessing the threat of wildfires and post-fire debris flows to electricity infrastructure in California and transportation infrastructure in Arizona. In addition to assessing threat to infrastructure, I am currently deploying a survey to understand how individuals adapt to extreme events including heatwaves, power outages, and floods to gain understanding on climate adaptation strategies and capabilities.