Graduate Program of Environmental Policy and Management

EcoFarm is one of the oldest and largest gatherings of organic farmers and food policy advocates in the U.S. The 46th EcoFarm Conference was a sanctuary that paid reverence to the lands we steward, the seeds we sow, and the communities we shepherd. This years’ theme - Seeds of Strength: Empowering Farmers for a Changing Climate - was a space to imagine new landscapes of cooperation and reimagine wounded systems. Carlton Turner’s opening plenary speech traced the evolving relationship between food, place, memory, and community.

In the summer of 2025, four EPM graduate students put what they’ve learned in the classroom into practice — collaborating with community-based organizations to produce research, policy briefs, and other useful deliverables that could move the needle on some of the most persistent inequities in transportation planning. Their experiences reveal what environmental justice work looks like up close, and why it matters.

As research faculty at the Institute of Transportation Studies and Director of the Transit Research Center, I center my research on sustainable transportation, travel behavior, and environmental policy. I was so excited to join EPM as a faculty advisor, and look forward to working with students interested in transportation and bridging the gap between the classroom and the 'real world'—connecting our students directly with the practitioners, policymakers, and community leaders who are shaping California’s future.