Aviva Wolf-Jacobs

Aviva Wolf-Jacobs has a background in environmental science, public health, GIS and graphic design. While pursuing her B.A. in Environmental Policy at Pitzer College in Claremont, CA, Aviva found her passion for using spatial tools explore and communicate data and ideas related to environmental justice and health while working as a research assistant in a Pomona College environmental health disparities lab.

Prior to beginning the Population, Health and Place program, Aviva held jobs or internships in education, government and nonprofit organizations. Whether conducting GIS-based research to support an environmental justice amendment to a primary policy document at an environmental planning and regulatory agency in San Francisco, conducting research on nutrition education accessibility and leading hands-on sustainability workshops at New York City not-for-profit organization Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, or teaching environmental science to fifth graders in Pomona, CA, Aviva has always enjoyed doing work that promotes environmental sustainability and social equity.

As a Ph.D. student at USC, Aviva has focused her research on urban green space exposure and health in the Los Angeles area. Aviva is particularly interested in how human exposure to various kinds of urban green space is associated with extreme heat vulnerability and perceived stress for lower income populations.

While working as a graduate research assistant on the Urban Trees Initiative at USC, Aviva studied ecological gentrification threats associated with urban green space expansion, and has since published a review paper on Eco-Gentrification. As a graduate research fellow for the Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Aviva published a blog post describing some of her park cooling work.

Additionally, Aviva has written a peer-reviewed chapter in the Springer book Storytelling to Accelerate Climate Solutions, which will be published in the near future. Along with a group of community activists based in Santa Cruz, CA, Aviva has also worked on a longstanding participatory climate mapping GIS project in conjunction with a handful of Northern California science museums.

Aviva is a member of the American Association of Geographers and the American Geophysical Union.

Having grown up in the Bay Area, Aviva is happiest when living on the West Coast with easy access to sunshine, pretty hikes with her dog, and delicious

produce. After finishing the PHP program, she hopes to find meaningful work connected to environmental health and climate justice.

Escaping Extreme Heat in Los Angeles: What makes one park cooler than another?

B.A., Environmental Analysis-Policy Track, Pitzer College

Wolf-Jacobs, A., Glock-Grueneich, N., Uctmann, N. Book chapter “Mapping Out Our Future: Using Geospatial Tools and Visual Aids to Achieve Climate Empowerment in the United States,” in Storytelling to Accelerate Climate Solutions, Springer, 2024.

Wolf-Jacobs, A., Wilson, J.P., Margulies, E. “Promoting self-determination, minimizing green gentrification, and maximizing community benefits in urban forestry expansion: A systematic review.” Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, DOI:10.1016/j.ufug.2023.127933, April 2023.