Air Quality

Fellow Story

Vera on volunteer effort to save climate data removed by Trump administration

Lourdes Vera spoke to NPR about her work volunteering to preserve climate-related data and tools from agency websites before they are stripped by the Trump administration.
June 30, 2025
Fellow Story

Gill quoted on hazardous dust season hitting borderlands

Scientists say drought and climate change are driving the severe dust storms pummeling the border region of Chihuahua, New Mexico and Texas.
June 26, 2025
Fellow Story

Gill finds that dust storms cost US over $150 billion per year

“To have this dust that is so thick that you can barely see a block or two down the road and it looks like Mars, it’s really unusual to have a dust storm that bad, much less three in less than three weeks’ time,” Tom told the New York Times.
May 9, 2025
Fellow

Sanjana Paul

2024 Fellow
Sanjana is an engineer, environmental justice researcher, and systems thinker working at the intersection of infrastructure, climate, and technology. She is a PhD student at MIT, where her research focuses on renewable energy, energy justice, and the electric grid. She is the co-founder of Rooted Futures Lab, a research and action collective advancing environmental justice in technology, and Earth Hacks, a nonprofit harnessing hackathons as a form of climate action. Her work has ranged from atmospheric science software engineering at NASA to passing decarbonization policy at the local level. She holds a BS in electrical engineering and physics, and a Master’s in City Planning from MIT.
Fellow Story

Torres authors guide for centering environmental justice, health and equity in CEQA

The environmental justice chapter in the Air District’s 2022 CEQA Guidelines – the first of its kind to be published in California – recognizes the policy imperative to help address long-standing and emerging inequities in the siting, design and development of potential sources of pollution.
September 28, 2023
Fellow Story

David Gonzalez: uncovering the health effects of wildfire smoke

“Wildfires are a special flavor of pollution that we don't totally understand,” David says. “We don’t understand its chemistry, health effects, or how it’s different from urban air pollution. I didn’t realize there was such a gap in that knowledge when I started. The more I dove into it, the more I was motivated to fill that gap.”
September 27, 2023
Fellow Story

Clark argues in legal victory against Bay Area biofuel refinery

Ben Clark argued the winning case against a proposed Marathon-Tesoro refinery in Martinez, CA, as a certified student attorney with the Stanford Environmental Law Clinic.
August 22, 2023
Fellow Story

Danger in the dust! Gill shares the hazards of windblown dust

Risks associated with dust hazards are often underappreciated, which can be costly for impacted communities. This study reviews the sources and chemical, physical, and biological characteristics of dust and its effects on humans and the environmental in the Americas.
July 26, 2023
Leadership Grant Grant

Resilient Roots Project: Centering Youth Climate Change Stories

This collaboration between Catalina Garzón-Galvis, StoryCenter and Frontline Catalysts will center the lived experiences, local knowledge, and innovation of migrant and first-generation youth in advancing solutions that strengthen community resilience to climate change.
July 18, 2023
Fellow

Daniel Gonzalez

2023 Fellow
Daniel studies aerosol behavior and its impact on air quality. His journey as a first-generation student has shaped his determination to drive positive change for the environment and disadvantaged communities.