Amaya Breese | UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation

abreese@luskin.ucla.edu

Amaya Breese

Events and Operations Manager

Amaya Breese serves as the Events and Operations Manager for the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, amplifying the Center’s research and initiatives through comprehensive event planning, communications, and administrative management. She manages the Center’s daily office operations, supports its team members, and uplifts the Center’s work in meetings and events.

With a background in higher education from UCLA Extension and Columbia University, she brings a passion for delivering impactful experiences and ensuring seamless operations. Her experience includes coordinating large-scale events for international students at UCLA Extension and supporting grants and finance administration at the Community College Research Center, Teachers College at Columbia University.

CURRENT PROJECT(S)

California Electric Vehicle Travel Survey

As California accelerates the transition to zero-emission transportation, understanding how electric vehicles are used is critical to informed policymaking. This project will collect new data on travel behavior, charging, and electric vehicle ownership to improve emissions modeling and help the state advance cleaner, more reliable, and more equitable transportation systems.

Researcher(s): Gregory Pierce, Rachel Connolly, Daniel Coffee

Funder: California Air Resources Board

What Defines a Plastic-Burdened Community? Part—III

Building on the Three-Part Framework for Identifying Plastic-Burdened Communities, UCLA researchers are identifying the footprint of plastic manufacturing activity in California. The researchers are mapping plastic manufacturing sites and estimating relative exposure risks to Californian communities. They are also identifying how those risks align with historic environmental justice concerns, and building a tool to compare plastic-related exposure risks facing Californians across the entire supply chain.

Researcher(s): Veronica Herrera and Daniel Coffee

Funder: Resources Legacy Fund

Mapping Shade: A New Lens on Heat Equity

Empowering people to stay outside when it’s hot

Shade is the most effective way to cool people. Our national Shade Map, created in collaboration with American Forests, empowers communities to identify shade gaps and target investments in trees and shade infrastructure. Our researchers are analyzing the shade data for 15 communities across the U.S.

Researcher(s): V. Kelly Turner, Lana Zimmerman, and Jean Claude Iradukunda

Funder: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

HeatReady Schools

The increasing impacts of extreme heat on health are intensified for children. However, schools lack effective solutions. Designed in collaboration with schools, the HeatReady Schools Southwest Regional Resilience Innovation Incubator will create school-level solutions for heat-prone regions, expand heat illness prevention and response training, promote greater awareness and action to reduce heat illness, promote safe activity, improve learning, and align with school heat resilience programs and policies.

Researcher(s): V. Kelly Turner and Lana Zimmerman

Funder: National Science Foundation

ShadeLA - Protecting Angelenos from Heat

Shade is the most effective way to cool people, especially those who are most vulnerable. By partnering with USC Dornsife Public Exchange and civic partners, we aim to expand and protect the urban tree canopy and shade infrastructure, building heat resilience for Angelenos. ShadeLA is leveraging the attention and investment around the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Organizers: Edith B. de Guzman, Colleen Callahan, Monica Dean, Marianna Babboni, Katie Vega, Max Teirstein, and others

Researcher(s):

A Framework for Understanding Water Utility Governance Structures

As water and wastewater utilities strive to find a way to balance infrastructure investments, asset management, workforce development, and climate change impacts, they must seek ways to increase operational efficiency and cut costs. This project seeks to establish a firm understanding of existing utility governance structures and the impacts they have on utility decision-making.

Researcher(s): Greg Pierce

Funder: The Water Research Foundation

Retreat: Moving to Higher Ground in a Climate-Changed City

Luskin Center for Innovation scholar Liz Koslov’s book Retreat: Moving to Higher Ground in a Climate-Changed City is an ethnographic account of community-organized retreat from the coast in New York City after Hurricane Sandy. The book, under advance contract with the University of Chicago Press, highlights Dr. Koslov’s examination of the social impacts of buyouts, a form of property acquisition in which houses and lots are purchased from willing sellers with future development prohibited.

Researcher(s): Liz Koslov

Enhancing Health Impact Assessments in California: Integrating High-Resolution Air Quality Modeling and Community Characteristics

To better quantify the health risks faced by overburdened California communities, we are developing an improved air quality health impact assessment framework. Our experts are conducting epidemiological modeling using advanced air quality models and fine-scale spatial baseline health data that account for social, racial-ethnic, and other susceptibility factors. Model outputs will include adjustment factors for community-specific characteristics that influence health outcomes from exposure to air pollution from multiple sources, including transportation. These factors can then be applied in air pollution health impact assessment approaches. This project will provide the California Air Resources Board with much-needed data to guide air quality policy more equitably.

Researcher(s): Yifang Zhu and Rachel Connolly

Funder: California Air Resources Board

Guiding the City of LA’s Efforts to Advance Equitable Access to Local Water Supplies

We are supporting public engagement and understanding of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and Los Angeles Sanitation and Environment’s joint, city-wide flagship water recycling program, Pure Water Los Angeles. The team is analyzing its equity implications, including tap water trust and affordability, and establishing a long-term framework for equitable water access across the city.

Researcher(s): Greg Pierce and Alice Chen

Funder: Los Angeles Department of Water and Power

California Extreme Heat and Community Resilience Evaluation

As evaluators of the California Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation’s Extreme Heat and Community Resilience, our experts are assessing project successes and barriers as well as examining cooling strategies implemented in California and internationally.

Researcher(s): V. Kelly Turner, C.J. Gabbe, Lana Zimmerman, Camille Burrus, Zachary Wampler

Funder: California Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation

Climate Action - Community-driven eLectric vEhicle chArging solutioN (CA-CLEAN)

We are partnering with three communities across the City of Los Angeles (communities in South LA, Wilmington/surrounding areas, and Pacoima/surrounding areas) to improve procedural equity for electric vehicle adoption and charging station siting decisions in disadvantaged communities. We are conducting a three-workshop series in each community, aiming to elicit community perspectives and priorities with respect to public charging station deployment, and ultimately co-design a public charging station siting framework that maximizes community benefits. This project is part of a larger effort that is a partnership with several other UCLA research teams and California State University, Northridge.

Researcher(s): Yifang Zhu, Greg Pierce, Rachel Connolly, and partners from Redeemer Community Partnership, Coalition for a Safe Environment, and Pacoima Beautiful

Funder: UC Office of the President

Eastern Coachella Valley Shade Equity Master Plan

The Eastern Coachella Valley Shade Equity Master Plan will provide a roadmap for the unincorporated communities of Mecca, North Shore, Oasis, and Thermal to invest in new shade infrastructure and adapt to extreme heat. The plan will recommend where and how to create more shade based on input from residents, government, and other key stakeholders, as well as a detailed analysis of needs and opportunities. The Luskin Center for Innovation is working with Kounkuey Design Initiative to identify policy pathways and actionable strategies for increasing shade in these areas.

Researcher(s): V. Kelly Turner, Lana Zimmerman, Zachary Wampler, and Jean Claude Iradukunda

Funder: California Governor's Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation

Effective Funding Strategies to Cool Californians in their Homes and Schools

We are providing a menu of feasible strategies to support the California State Legislature’s ability to facilitate the adoption of mechanical cooling, such as air conditioning, in homes and schools. We are focusing on home and schools because these are two settings where populations most sensitive to heat—infants, youth, seniors, and those with medical issues—spend the most time. This project is informed by engagement with California legislators, agency staff, nonprofit leaders, and heat legislation research across the country.

Researcher(s): V. Kelly Turner and Lana Zimmerman

Funder: Resources Legacy Fund

Evaluating Community Heat Adaptation Evaluation Capacity and Federal Support Criteria

This project examines the experience of communities currently engaging in heat planning and infrastructure investments through California’s new Extreme Heat and Community Resilience program to understand if and how supportive policies can reduce disconnects between local capacity and federal expectations.

Researcher(s): CJ Gabbe and Lana Zimmerman

Funder: National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration

Justice First: Community-Embedded Energy Transition Planning in South LA

The Luskin Center for Innovation is partnering with Redeemer Community Partnership to lay the groundwork for residential gas decommissioning in and around the Exposition Park neighborhood of South Los Angeles. The project is part of Justice First: an international collaboration in which academic researchers and community-based organizations have joined together to develop hyperlocal, community-led energy transition plans. The project includes a comparison across project sites to identify commonalities and differences among locally grounded energy transition efforts globally. The team is examining how neighborhood-scale gas decommissioning might help South LA communities address the risk of rising gas distribution costs, while supporting residential electrification, integrating equity and justice principles, and building community capacity.

Researcher(s): Gregory Pierce, Lauren Dunlap, Richard Parks, and Sooji Yang

Funder: Justice First project / New Frontiers in Research Fund – International

UCLA Sustainable LA Grand Challenge Climate & Wildfire Research Initiative

Chaired by Greg Pierce, the Urban Water Supply + Fire working group of the Climate & Wildfire Research Initiative will form a Research and Policy Coordination Network and facilitate workshops on the following topics:

Strengthening drinking water infrastructure resilience,
Addressing equity in the cost of new resilience investments,
Ensuring water quality and community trust after fires, and
Navigating the relationships among wildfire risk, vegetation, and water supply in urban areas.

Researcher(s): Greg Pierce

Funder: Climate & Wildfire Research Initiative

Monitoring Soil Contamination After the Fires

The fires destroyed over 15,000 structures, leaving behind toxic ash and debris. Heavy rain in February washed contaminated materials beyond the burn zones, increasing exposure risks. In collaboration with Associate Professor Sanjay Mohanty, Greg Pierce is assessing contamination from toxic ash and debris in public areas within and beyond the burn perimeters of the Palisades and Eaton Fires. After collecting soil samples, the team will analyze them for heavy metals such as lead, chromium, arsenic, and lithium as well as organic pollutants including PFAS and VOCs. The findings will help determine if the removal of the top six inches of soil is sufficient to reduce health risks.

Researcher(s): Sanjay Mohanty and Greg Pierce

Evaluating the Role of Vegetation in Urban Fires

Edith B. de Guzman is conducting a rapid forensic assessment of the role of trees in fire dynamics within the Palisades Fire perimeter, in collaboration with partners from UC Davis, UC Agriculture & Natural Resources, and the USDA Forest Service. The results can inform rebuilding efforts and offer lessons for future events. The goals are to:

Measure tree damage, loss, and mortality;
Assess fire damage to the urban forest concerning the structure, built environment material, and data on fire dynamics;
Find examples of unburned landscaping and vegetation around burnt buildings; and
Test the extent to which tree species with varying ecological traits might have ignited and contributed to the spread of the fire.

Researcher(s): Edith B. de Guzman

The Cost of Drinking Water Compliance Nationally

The researchers aim to address the persistent issue of unsafe and unreliable drinking water across the U.S. by focusing on the widespread fragmentation of community water systems. They will build a scalable, data-driven model that estimates feasible compliance solutions – either treatment upgrades or system consolidation – and associated capital costs for systems violating drinking water standards.

Researcher(s): Khalid Osman, Greg Pierce, Grace Harrison, and collaborators

Funder: Stanford University

Supporting Communities’ Understanding and Trust in Public Information on Environmental Pollution Exposures Post-Fires

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

Wastewater Needs Assessment for the Human Right to Sanitation

No one knows exactly how many of the 100,000 miles of sewer lines and 900+ utility providers and treatment plants in California provide adequate service, yet. We are conducting a first-of-its-kind study to answer this question and advance equitable sanitation services.

Researcher(s): Gregory Pierce, Grace Harrison, Jean Claude Iradukunda, Anna Young, and Max McNally

Funder: California State Water Resources Control Board

Analyzing Effects of More Efficient Water Use on Wastewater Systems and Recycled Water

This project seeks to understand the economic impacts of reduced water availability (due to urban conservation) on recycled water and wastewater systems in California. The multi-university team is forecasting water demand and efficiency trends, evaluating links between urban water supply and wastewater systems, identifying potential impacts to recycled water production, and assessing impacts on affordability for systems across the state.

Researcher(s): Greg Pierce, Grace Harrison, Erik Porse, Rachel Shellabarger

Funder: California Department of Water Resources

Advancing National Drinking Water Quality Goals

Led by Rural Community Assistance Partnership Incorporated, the Luskin Center for Innovation, and partners are conducting six assessments for drinking water quality/compliance in five states and one US territory over the next four years. This report will enable state officials and water system managers to identify solutions and access federal funding for much-needed water quality improvements.

Researcher(s): Grace Harrison, Gregory Pierce, Lena Schlichting, Laura Landes, Steve Wilson, Hideyuki Terashima, and others

Funder: National Environmental Finance Center

Innovative Utility Water Affordability Programs

Led by the Pacific Institute, the Luskin Center for Innovation, the University of North Carolina Environmental Finance Center, and Corvias Infrastructure Solutions are researching emerging approaches employed by utilities implementing affordable water programs for low-income customers.

Researcher(s): Gregory Pierce and Grace Harrison

Funder: Water Research Foundation

Partnership with City of Los Angeles Office of Forest Management

The Luskin Center for Innovation has partnered with the City of Los Angeles Office of Forest Management, which regularly seeks our advice on best practices for urban forest equity planning. The decision-making framework we pioneered with the LA Urban Forest Equity Collective has been adopted by the city in its urban forest management planning process.

Researcher(s): Edith de Guzman, Rachel Malarich, and Clarissa Boyajian

Los Angeles Urban Forest Equity Collective

The Luskin Center for Innovation co-leads the Urban Forest Equity Collective, a consortium of forestry experts, LA city staff, community-based organizations, researchers, and consultants. The Collective aims to create holistic strategies to advance urban forest equity in the lowest-canopied neighborhoods in LA. By conducting a comprehensive analysis and creating strategies, the group works to address decades of systemic disinvestment and planning decisions that have resulted in poor public health outcomes, limited access to green spaces, and a host of related consequences ranging from heat exposure and poor air quality to food insecurity and reduced ecosystem services.

Researcher(s): Edith de Guzman, UCLA; Rachel O’Leary, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection; Rachel Malarich, City of LA; Marianna Babboni, USC Public Exchange; Monica Dean, USC Public Exchange

Recommendations for Designing Cost-Effective Outdoor Cooling Interventions in Micro-Climate Zones

We are collaborating with the frontline communities of Eastern Coachella Valley, Ontario, Pacoima in the Northeast San Fernando Valley of LA, and Watts in South LA on outcome-based research on those who are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The goal is to empower communities to implement cooling solutions for bus stops and other streetscapes, facilitate the increased use of transit and active transportation, and reduce pollution while creating climate-resilient neighborhoods.

Researcher(s): V. Kelly Turner and Ariane Middel

Funder: California Strategic Growth Council

Examining the Origin of Heat Inequities: A Case Study of Watts, Los Angeles

This first-of-its-kind study aims to answer: How did communities of color get disproportionately burdened by extreme heat? In a case study of Watts, Los Angeles — a historically Black neighborhood where temperatures are 4.7°F hotter than the city average — the team is examining how the neighborhood’s microclimate has changed over time to pinpoint what discriminatory interventions contributed to the present-day heat burden.

Researcher(s): V. Kelly Turner, Mark Vestal, and Bharat Venkat

Funder: UCLA Transdisciplinary Research Acceleration Grant

Social Determinants of Health in Public Health Systems: Advancing Health Equity in At-Risk Neighborhoods in Corpus Christi, TX

Communities everywhere are grappling with ways to become more resilient to climate change, which means planning for multiple hazards and factoring in social causes and consequences. UCLA is leading efforts to understand how hotter conditions affect the health and well-being of disadvantaged groups in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Researcher(s): V. Kelly Turner

Funder: National Academy of Sciences via Texas A&M University

Piloting CalHeatScore, A Heat Risk Warning System

In partnership with the LA Regional Collaborative for Climate Action and Sustainability (LARC), Luskin Center for Innovation researchers are helping implement the California Communities Extreme Heat Scoring System (CalHeatScore), a pilot heat ranking system (legislated through AB 2233) that uses public health data on emergency room visits (building on a system created by David Eisenman called UCLA Heat Maps).

Uniquely, the tool links conventional temperature-based heat warning system thresholds to the likelihood of harm. The Luskin Center for Innovation is 1) analyzing and reporting leading heat alert practices from around the world to the state, and 2) supporting LARC in end-user engagement to improve tool implementation.

Researcher(s): Erin Coutts, V. Kelly Turner, Colleen Callahan, Camille Burrus

Funder: California Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation

Informing Heat and Urban Forest Science Curriculum

Luskin Center for Innovation staff is advising on the National Science Foundation-funded heat and urban forest science Empowering Changemakers: Urban-Biodiversity Initiative for Teachers and Youth (ECUITY). The initiative is developing an environmental justice biodiversity curriculum for middle schools in Los Angeles, supporting the City of Los Angeles’s goal of zero net biodiversity loss.

Researcher(s): Edith de Guzman, Travis Longcore, Mas Dojiri, and Jill Grace

Funder: National Science Foundation

Identifying Where and When People Are Heat-Exposed

In partnership with the UCLA Institute for Environment and Sustainability, the Luskin Center for Innovation is extending our shade equity planning work in Los Angeles and integrating cell phone mobility data to understand where and when people are exposed to heat. We can then overlay other information, such as temperature and shade maps, to better inform decision-making to mitigate heat hazards.

Researcher(s): Travis Longcore, V. Kelly Turner, Jean Claude Iradukunda, and Sahar Derakhshan

Funder: California Office of Emergency Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency

Center of Excellence for Heat Resilient Communities

Our researchers, in partnership with Arizona State University and the University of Arizona, established the nation’s first Center of Excellence for Heat Resilient Communities. The Center engaged and supported communities in determining the best strategies for local heat mitigation and management while developing public and private investment recommendations. Despite a loss of federal funding, our researchers will serve as senior advisors to the Atlantic Council’s Climate Resilience Center’s continued work with the 15 previously recruited communities.

Researcher(s): PI V. Kelly Turner (Luskin Center for Innovation), CoPI Sara Meerow (Arizona State University); CoPI Ladd Keith (University of Arizona); Senior Project Manager Trace Lane (Luskin Center for Innovation); and Program Coordinator Zachary Wampler (Luskin Center for Innovation)

Funder: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration originally supported this project.

Guiding Equity Strategies Implementation in LA's Energy Transition

This new engaged research builds on the Luskin Center for Innovation’s past clean energy affordability recommendations for the LA Department of Water and Power.

Researcher(s): Gregory Pierce, Lauren Dunlap, Dan Coffee, Stephanie Pincetl, and Rachel Sheinberg

Funder: Los Angeles Department of Water and Power

Evaluation of Seven Transformative Climate Communities Program Investments

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.

Researcher(s): Alex Aguirre Levitas, Samantha Astudillo, Camille Burrus, Elena Hernandez, and Jason Karpman

Funder: California Strategic Growth Council

Local Political Response to Climate Risks

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

UCLA-led workshop with more than 50 experts identifies communications, research, and policy priorities

Selin Filiz, Sustainable LA Grand Challenge Restoring public confidence in drinking water after wildfires

September 10, 2026

UCLA-led workshop with more than 50 experts identifies communications, research, and policy priorities

Introducing new postdoctoral researcher, Rachel Sheinberg

September 1, 2026

Learn more about our new team member and her research

Video Thumbnail Graphic for the "How to live in extreme heat" TEDxUCLA talk by V. Kelly Turner

What does it mean to be too hot, a TEDxUCLA talk

August 25, 2026

V. Kelly Turner explores how extreme heat is reshaping everyday life