Environmental Policy & Law

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

Nicole Wong

2024 Fellow
Nicole explores the intersection of affordable housing and climate equity, including building energy retrofit strategies that can reduce energy burden, prevent displacement, and target climate investments to low-income communities of color.
Fellow

Ataya Cesspooch

2024 Fellow
Ataya (Ute, Assiniboine, Lakota) examines the complex and contradictory relationships between oil and gas development, tribal sovereignty, and environmental justice on the northern Ute reservation.
Fellow

Natalie Baillargeon

2024 Fellow
Natalie Baillargeon is an Energy/Environmental Policy Researcher in the Energy Markets and Planning Department at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), contributing to research on energy permitting and policy. She earned a Master of...
Fellow

Kathryn Rodgers

2024 Fellow
Kathryn is a scientist and communicator committed to science translation for decision-makers in governments, businesses, unions, and community groups to support environmental health.
Fellow Story

From Streets to Statutes: UConn Law Earth Day Conference features Bustos and Pizarro

“Climate change is the defining challenge of our time, and we have the tools we have to address the challenge, including litigation, storytelling, and organizing,” Bustos said. “Law schools have an important role, because the law can be a barrier or a leverage point to help movements. There are opportunities and challenges ahead.”
May 13, 2024
Fellow Story

Grumet applauds Biden Administration’s Guidance on Energy Communities Tax Credit

“Including ports in this bonus tax credit will revitalize hard working communities that have long been engines of economic growth,” Grumet said. “The Administration’s action is yet another example of the economic opportunities created by the clean energy transition.”
April 17, 2024
Fellow Story

Switzer Fellows present at 2024 AAG conference

Several Switzer Fellows are presenting at the 2024 Association of American Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting taking place in Honolulu Hawai’i from April 16-20, 2024. Fellows’ presentations are on an array of diverse topics: climate...
April 17, 2024
Fellow Story

Bustos contributes to Legal Action Agenda for Climate Displacement

Camila Bustos worked with the International Refugee Assistance Project and nine other nonprofit organizations who engage in climate action and migrant and refugee advocacy to create a “legal action agenda that sets concrete steps to ensure...
April 17, 2024
Fellow Story

Matsuoka co-edits Ground Truths: Community-Engaged Research for Environmental Justice book

Martha Matsuoka’s new, open-access book shows how community-engaged research contributes to environmental justice by centering local knowledge, building truth from the ground up, producing data that can influence decisions, and transforming researchers’ relationships to communities for equity and mutual benefit.
January 18, 2024