Science & Suds: Climate Justice Edition
Join us for a night of lightning talks, drinks, and community at LA Ale Works in Culver City!
We’ve got an amazing lineup of speakers bringing research tackling today’s environmental and climate justice challenges into a fun, relaxed space.
*Please note that LA Ale Works is a 21+ venue :)
What to expect:
🔹Lightning Talks: Four UCLA researchers sharing their work at the intersection of science and climate justice
🔹Live Panel + Q&A: Stick around for a group discussion and your chance to ask questions
🔹Community: Meet and connect with people who care about climate, justice, and the future
Meet the speakers:
Anna Jiselle Ongjoco – Eyes in the Sky: Tracking Water Stress in California's Oak Woodlands Using Airborne Remote Sensing
Anna grew up in Los Angeles, where the diverse plants and animals all around her sparked a lifelong curiosity about the natural world. She went on to earn both her B.S. and M.S. in Biological Sciences at Cal Poly Pomona, where she studied how two native pine species in the San Bernardino Mountains manage water and energy. Now, as a Ph.D. student co-advised by Dr. Elsa Ordway at UCLA and Dr. Leander Anderegg at UCSB, Anna has set her sights on California's iconic oak trees. Her research explores how three native oak species cope with drought as they become more frequent and severe due to climate change. By combining hands-on field measurements with satellite and airborne-based remote sensing, Anna is working to understand the biological mechanisms that determine why some trees survive drought while others don't. Ultimately, her work aims to help us better predict and prepare for the future of California's forests.
Garret May – Materials Science and Environmental Justice: The Possibility of a Green Hydrogen Economy
Garret May (he/him) is a PhD student, researcher, and educator in the Materials Science and Engineering Department at UCLA. He aims to use his research and teaching to foster a learning community for multidisciplinary scholarship, and reconnect engineering education back to its impact on people and the environment. When he is not in the classroom or the lab, you can find him baking, reading, or playing board and video games.
Auxenia Grace Privett-Mendoza – Burn Baby Burn: Changing Climate Regimes and Biodiversity
Auxenia Grace is a PhD student in the Tingley Lab at UCLA. Her current research focuses on the impact of changing fire regimes on wildlife in California. Prior to beginning graduate school, she worked for Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy in Pasadena where she supported their mission of saving land for wildlife connectivity and providing nature-focused public education opportunities.
Marcos Magaña – Lived and Embodied Experience of Heat
Marcos Magaña was born and raised in the Eastern Coachella Valley, a predominantly agricultural desert region in Southern California, where he now centers his research. His academic work has focused on issues closely affecting his home community, including environmental justice, spatial inequality, and climate vulnerability, with a handful of articles published or awaiting publication in both public facing newspapers (LA Times) and academic journals. He is pursuing his doctorate at UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, where he is investigating the biosocial dimensions of extreme heat exposure in low-income and racialized communities, with a focus on desert geographies.