With a growing focus on climate inequality, Penn’s School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2) recognizes the climate crisis as a significant social justice issue. Recent University-level grants to SP2 faculty and staff demonstrate the School’s innovative work in this area.
The SP2 faculty listed below are among the 2024-2025 recipients of grants from the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy. Housed at Penn’s Stuart Weitzman School of Design, the Kleinman Center supports research in energy and climate policy by Penn faculty, postdocs, and doctoral students.
- Research Assistant Professor Chenyi Ma and Professor Dennis Culhane, Dana and Andrew Stone Chair in Social Policy, will undertake a project(opens in a new tab) to analyze the impact of energy insecurity, particularly among low-income and minority households, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Research Assistant Professor Siva Mathiyazhagan is part of an interdisciplinary team for a project(opens in a new tab) to address disparities in cooling and develop approaches to alleviate heat stress in urban communities.
- Dr. Sanya Carley, who holds a secondary appointment at SP2 and is the faculty director of the Kleinman Center and Presidential Distinguished Professor of Energy Policy and City Planning at the Weitzman School of Design, will embark on a project(opens in a new tab) to examine the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act.
In addition, a recently launched yearlong project(opens in a new tab) led by Founding Executive Director Katherina Rosqueta of SP2’s Center for High Impact Philanthropy (CHIP)(opens in a new tab) is supported by a grant from Penn’s Environmental Innovations Initiative. Intended to identify promising strategies for environmental innovation, the project will address how nonprofits and philanthropic organizations can best support marginalized communities in the face of climate change’s unequal impacts. The multidisciplinary research community will include SP2 faculty members Dr. Chenyi Ma and Assistant Professor Jisung Park, along with collaborators from across Penn. The group will produce actionable guidance from CHIP on how donors can have a bigger positive impact for the environment and reduce the effects of climate change.
