Earth Month: Your ultimate guide to USC experts

While Earth Day holds a special place on the calendar every April 22, USC dedicates the entire month of April to amplifying its message. Throughout the month, leading experts will be available for interviews to discuss pressing environmental issues and potential solutions. Browse our full directory of experts here.

Contact: Nina Raffio, raffio@usc.edu or (213) 442-8464; USC Media Relations, uscnews@usc.edu or (213) 740-2215

Climate Change & Extreme Weather

Will Berelson is an expert in chemical oceanography and coastal environmental chemistry. berelson@usc.edu

Wändi Bruine de Bruin is an expert in risk perception and communication, behavior change interventions for health, sustainability and well-being, and public perceptions of climate change. wandibdb@usc.edu

Bill Deverell is an expert in wildfires and the environmental history of the American West. deverell@usc.edu

Julien Emile-Geay is an expert in climate dynamics, global warming, El Nino/La Nina, dynamic climate models and forecasts, historical and geologic climate records, droughts, and southwestern U.S. climate variability. julieneg@usc.edu

Sarah Feakins is an expert in prehistoric climate change, especially water variability and its effects on life. feakins@usc.edu

Essam Heggy is an expert in environmental and climatic research in Earth’s arid areas and in water exploration on planets and on the Moon. heggy@usc.edu

Mahta Moghaddam is an expert in radar technologies, microwave systems and sensing technologies that measure the impact of climate change on Earth’s environment. mahta@usc.edu

Lowell Stott is an xpert in the causes and effects of climate change and climate variability, tropical ocean and atmospheric climatology and drought cycles. stott@usc.edu

Costas Synolakis is an expert in tsunamis, disaster mitigation, ocean dispersion of pollutants, coastal effects of long waves, coastal and ocean engineering and beach erosion. costas@usc.edu

Josh West is an expert in Earth’s landscapes, water and soil resources, and the carbon cycle and climate. joshwest@usc.edu

Biodiversity, Conservation & Ecology

David Caron is an expert on harmful algal blooms, microbial ecology and marine food webs. dcaron@usc.edu

Bistra Dilkina is an expert in AI for conservation, wildlife poaching and trafficking, disaster resilience and wildfire mapping. dilkina@usc.edu

David Ginsburg is an expert in marine environments, coastal zone conservation and policy, marine ecology and biology, coral reefs and pollution in ocean ecosystems. dginsbur@usc.edu

David Hutchins is an expert in marine ecology, phytoplankton and the effects of climate change on the ocean. dahutch@usc.edu

Carly Kenkel is an expert in coral reef biology, ecology, symbiosis and reef restoration. ckenkel@usc.edu

Jim Moffett is an expert in marine chemistry and the impacts of climate change on processes vital to the marine food web. jmoffett@usc.edu

Business of Sustainability & Energy Transition

Paul Adler is an expert in organization design, strategy formulation and implementation process and environmental sustainability. padler@marshall.usc.edu

Marlon Boarnet is an expert in the environmental impacts of transportation, transportation policy and climate change. boarnet@usc.edu

Shon Hiatt is an expert in entrepreneurship, strategy, innovation and sustainability in the global energy and agribusiness sectors. shiatt@marshall.usc.edu

Sanjay Sharma is an expert in sustainable investment banking and financial services. sanjays3@marshall.usc.edu

Greys Sosic is an expert in sustainable and green supply chains. sosic@marshall.usc.edu

Travis Williams is an expert in renewable energy, sustainable fuels and materials (biodiesel, hydrogen) and cleantech. travisw@usc.edu

Environmental Health

Max Aung is an expert in public health and environmental justice. maxaung@usc.edu

Ed Avol is an expert in respiratory health, air pollution and the public health impacts of traffic. avol@usc.edu

Shohreh Farzan is an expert in environmental epidemiology, molecular biology and toxicology. Her research focuses on the impact of environmental contaminants on maternal-child health, with a special interest in cardiometabolic health. sffarzan@usc.edu

Rima Habre is an expert in environmental exposures, air pollution mixtures and social stressors on the health of vulnerable populations across the life course. habre@usc.edu

Jill Johnston is an expert in environmental and climate justice, health disparities, and environmental hazards including toxic metals, lead, waste and pollution. jillj@usc.edu

Environmental Law & Public Policy

Santina Contreras is an expert in environmental planning, natural hazards, community engagement, international development, and engineering for development. santinac@usc.edu

Robin Craig is an expert in ocean and coastal law, climate change adaptation, water law, water rights, water pollution, Clean Water Act, adaptive governance and toxic torts. rcraig@law.usc.edu

Shannon Gibson is an expert in environmental activism, particularly as it relates to environmental justice and the Global South, and its impact on international environmental policy. smgibson@usc.edu

Matthew Kahn is an expert on climate change policy, energy efficiency and urban quality of life. kahnme@usc.edu

Esther Margulies is an expert in landscape architecture, sustainability and open spaces. emarguli@usc.edu

Manuel Pastor is an expert on sustainable development and social, economic and environmental justice; community organizing and social movements; and Los Angeles and California politics. mpastor@usc.edu

Adam Rose is an expert in the economics of natural and human-caused hazards, including earthquakes and terrorist attacks, and in climate change and energy policy. adam.rose@usc.edu

Additional Experts

Joe Árvai is an expert on how the public, business leaders, and policy makers think and make decisions about environmental issues and sustainability. arvai@usc.edu

Kandis Leslie Gilliard-AbdulAziz directs the Sustainable Lab, which focuses on developing novel materials for sustainable catalytic processes for low-carbon chemical production. kabdulaz@usc.edu

Massoud Pedram is an expert in green computing, the carbon footprint of computer systems, data center energy efficiencies, low power electronics and energy storage systems. pedram@ceng.usc.edu

Barath Raghavan is an expert in computational agro-ecology, fire mitigation and computing for social good. barath.raghavan@usc.edu

Alexander Robinson is an expert in landscape architecture and  green infrastructure, GIS mapping, urban heat islands and water politics. alexander.robinson@usc.edu

Gale Sinatra is expert in climate science education, evolution education, public understanding of science and literacy. gsinatra@usc.edu

Jill Sohm is an expert in biological oceanography, microbial ecology, water pollution, microplastics, coastal processes and sustainability education. sohm@usc.edu

###