The work of our dedicated Climate and Urban Sustainability Program researchers offers insight into many current challenges that resonate beyond the Academy. To read select features and contributions by our team in the press, follow the links below.

David Feldman

• • Feldman, David L. 2026 (forthcoming) “Achieving Transboundary Water Security through Water Innovations – A Framework and Cases,” World Water Policy 12.
    
  • 2025. “Inclusive, Diverse, Equitable, & Able Leaders for Water – Workshop and Survey Final Report”. Water UCI, University of California, Irvine (UCI)
  • 2024 (December). co-convener, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. “Learning Resilience: Lessons for Managing Global Transboundary Water Vulnerabilities: Proceedings of a Workshop in Brief“. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. 
  • 2024. “Public Acceptability of Water Supply Innovations,” pp. 201-205, in Elgar Encyclopedia of Water Policy, Economics and Management. 
• Talks:
  • “Confidence-building in addressing water security challenges,” invited presentation and session chair, Sharing Lessons Learned. Together for Water – Exploratory Workshop: Fostering Collaboration in the Middle East and North Africa, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria, October 29, 2025.
  • “Confidence building in resolving trans-boundary water disputes – an overview and application, United Nations University – Institute for Water, Health, and Environment – Two-day training session for the Tanzanian Ministry of Water, Dodoma, Tanzania, June 23-24, 2025.
  • Invited participant/presenter – “Cultivating Excellence in Water panel. Water problems in Idaho.” College of Engineering, Boise State University, Boise, ID, April 2, 2025.
  • Community Resilience and Benefits Analysis, California Solar Canal Initiative Workshop, University of Southern California (USC) Dornsife Public Exchange, and Independent Advisory Panel, Solar AquaGrid, Sacramento, CA, March 24, 2005.

Mukul Kumar

• January 22, 2024 UC Irvine School of Social Ecology “Fueling Violent Transitions” 

Nicholas Marantz

• January 22, 2025 Agence France-Presse  “False posts claim California governor rezoning Pacific Palisades”
• July 10, 2023 Fortune “Wealthy suburbs are crushing housing market supply and choking off affordability, say researchers who looked at nationwide data”

Richard Matthew

• • March 27, 2024 KUCI- Get the Funk Out “UCI’s Richard Matthew shares details about The Drake Gives contributing $1.5 million to Power of Music initiative”
  • February 14, 2024 SF Gate “During LA’s historic rain, river was ‘doing exactly what it was engineered to do‘”
  • February 10, 2024 The Wall Street Journal “California’s Flood Defenses Held This Time, but They Are Weakening“
  • February 8, 2024 Los Angeles Times “How California’s storms are projected to become more extreme with climate change“

Michael Méndez

• November 8, 2024 Associated Press “Weather extremes influence illegal migration and return between the U.S. and Mexico, study finds”
• August 23, 2024 The Press Democrat “New study: Air quality data from 2020 wildfires shows danger smoke poses for ag workers”
• August 20, 2024 Garden & Health “A Shady Proposition: The Many Benefits Of Urban Forests”
• August 16, 2024 The Oaklandside “August has been mild in Oakland, but trends show we’re still at risk of extreme heat”
• August 15, 2024 AP News “Wildfires are growing under climate change, and their smoke threatens farmworkers, study says”
• July 8, 2024 CalMatters “Hundreds of deaths, thousands of injuries, billions of dollars: The cost of extreme heat in California”
• May 13, 2024 USA Today  “Our top-ranking cities for climate resiliency: 2024 study”
• April 23, 2024 ABC7 “Parents, climate advocates emphasize equity and inclusivity in ‘greening’ of LAUSD schools”
• April 22, 2024 CBS News “Hotter temperatures mean higher utility costs for millions of Americans”
• April 19, 2024 KQED “Same-sex couples face higher climate change risks, new UCLA study shows”
• April 11, 2024 HuffPost “The 10 books that scientists say can make a difference in the climate crisis”
• February 2, 2024 Inside Climate News “Converging climate risks interact to cause more harm, hitting disadvantaged Californians hardest”
• December 18, 2023 Los Angeles Times “The epic floods receded, but the misery remains in California farm towns“
• August 18, 2023 ABC 7  “Southern Californians support policies that fight climate change, even in more conservative regions“
• July 27, 2023 PBS News Hour “How urban heat islands make the impacts of excessive heat worse“
• July 25, 2023 CalMatters “The hidden cost of California’s hot workplaces: 20,000 job injuries a year“
• July23, 2023 Inside Climate News “A Catastrophic Flood on California’s Central Coast Has Plunged Already Marginalized Indigenous Farmworkers Into Crisis“
• July 21, 2023 The Guardian ” ‘We can’t escape’: climate crisis is driving up cost of living in the US west“
• July 18, 2023 NPR “What people can do to address the human-driven causes of climate change“
• July 15, 2023 Los Angeles Daily News “Thousands of street vendors are hit hard by severe heat wave in Los Angeles“
• July 10, 2023 KQED “California’s Farmworkers are on the Front Lines of Climate Change”
• July 5, 2023 KVPR “In California’s San Joaquin Valley, addressing inequities in urban planning is a tough task“
• June 24, 2023 Mother Jones “It’s Not About Income Alone, Race Also Must Be a Factor in Combating Air Pollution”
• June 19, 2023 Grist “Study: Race must be a factor in combatting air pollution”
• June 16, 2023 The Center for Public Integrity “Planning for environmental justice for all“
• June 13, 2023 Modern Farmer “In California, Climate Change Fuels Disasters—and a Push For More Farmworker Protections”
• June 1, 2023 Los Angeles Times ” After months ‘left in the dark,’ undocumented flood victims to get $95 million in aid from state”
• May 4, 2023 Spectrum News 1 “Climate warning: Is SoCal prepared for mountain melt-off?“
• May 4, 2023 Nonprofit Quarterly “Undocumented and Unprotected: How Immigration Status Amplifies Climate Vulnerability “

Virginia Parks

• January 24, 2023 Los Angeles Times “Cal State and faculty union reach tentative pact with lightning speed, and not all are happy”
• June 5, 2023 Reuters “Insight: Energy sector’s COVID recovery turns into massive CEO payday”
• May 15, 2023 KABC “Displaced fossil fuel workers struggling as CA shifts to clean energy, study shows “
• May 1, 2023 KNX “UC Irvine report documents experience of displaced fossil fuel workers “
• April 27, 2023 NBC Bay Area “What Happens When A Refinery Closes“
• April 27, 2023 Sacramento Bee “After a California refinery closed, laid-off fossil fuel workers got hit with a ‘gut punch’“

Avipsa Roy

• June 12, 2023 CBC News “How hard is it to get EV charging stations into residential buildings?”

Nícola Ulibarrí

• • February 14, 2024 SF Gate “During LA’s historic rain, river was ‘doing exactly what it was engineered to do‘”
  • February 10, 2024 The Wall Street Journal “California’s Flood Defenses Held This Time, but They Are Weakening“
  • February 8, 2024 Los Angeles Times “How California’s storms are projected to become more extreme with climate change“
  • August 24, 2023 Los Angeles Times “California is working on solutions to worsening climate change. Will they be enough?”