Megan Mullin Headshot

mullin@luskin.ucla.edu

Megan Mullin

Faculty Director

Megan Mullin (she/her) is the faculty director of the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation. She also holds the Luskin Endowed Chair in Innovation and Sustainability as Professor of Public Policy, within in the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Both the faculty director and professorship positions are endowed by Meyer and Renee Luskin.

Mullin is a political scientist focused on environmental politics. Her research examines how coordination problems, accountability failure, and inequality in environmental risks and benefits shape political response to environmental change. Her current projects focus on the governance and finance of urban water services, public opinion about climate change, and the local politics of climate adaptation. She also has published on federalism, election rules and voter turnout, and local and state institutional design.

Mullin’s work has appeared in Nature, Science, American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, and other journals in political science, public administration, and planning. She is the recipient of five awards from the American Political Science Association, including the Lynton Keith Caldwell Award for her book, Governing the Tap: Special District Governance and the New Local Politics of Water (MIT Press, 2009). Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Geological Survey, and private foundations. She works regularly with policy makers, and her research and commentary have appeared in many national and international media outlets. In 2020, she was named an Andrew Carnegie Fellow.

Mullin teaches and advises students in the areas of environmental politics, local politics, and water governance in the United States. Prior to coming to UCLA, she served as a professor at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment. She was previously on the political science faculty at Temple University. Mullin received her Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Learn more from the news story about Mullin’s appointment as an endowed chair and faculty director at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

Learn more from Mullin’s Letter from the Director.

CURRENT PROJECT(S)

In partnership with Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles, Rachel Connolly and her colleagues aim to address community concerns about air and water quality following the January 2025 fires. The researchers will center community perspectives to collect information about how residents perceived personal environmental risks before, during, and after the fires, including their trust in public information sources. Ultimately, the project seeks to advance environmental justice by supporting community-led efforts to build resilience during climate-driven crises.

Researcher(s): Rachel Connolly, Gregory Pierce, Megan Mullin, and Silvia R. González
Funder: UCLA Center for Community Engagement (Social Impact Collaboratives) and The Water Foundation

Our team is documenting community-led, climate action that is funded by the Transformative Climate Communities (TCC) Program in seven communities: Fresno, Ontario, Pomona, South Stockton, and three Los Angeles neighborhoods (Northeast San Fernando Valley, South Los Angeles, and Watts). We are collecting and sharing data on measurable accomplishments as well as stories from residents, business owners, workers, and others who have shaped — or been shaped by TCC.

Learn more

Researcher(s): Alex Aguirre Levitas, Samantha Astudillo, Camille Burrus, Elena Hernandez, and Jason Karpman
Funder: California Strategic Growth Council

This project examines the role of local democracy in reshaping towns and cities as they confront growing climate hazards. With support from an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship, the research brings together survey data and case studies to appraise how the costs and benefits of climate adaptation policies get distributed both in theory and in practice, and whether local efforts to become more resilient reinforce existing inequalities.

Researcher(s): Megan Mullin
Funder: Carnegie Corporation of New York

RECENT NEWS

Water, fire, and finance: building more resilient systems

UCLA-led convening highlights need for clearer roles, stronger coordination, and more equitable financing strategies

Blueprint for a better planet

How Luskin Center for Innovation and other parts of UCLA are advancing a healthier, more sustainable future.

Sustainable LA Grand Challenge Planning for recovery before disaster strikes

Lessons from California’s recent fires and floods

See More