Associate professor of city planning at San Diego State University and Luskin alum AJ Kim has been named the 2026 recipient of the Marilyn J. Gittell Activist Scholar Award, presented by the Urban Affairs Association and SAGE Publishing. The annual award recognizes scholars whose research bridges academic inquiry with on-the-ground community activism, honoring the legacy of political scientist Marilyn J. Gittell and her commitment to community-engaged urban scholarship.

Kim, an associate professor of city planning at San Diego State University, has spent more than two decades working with immigrant rights and environmental justice organizations in the United States and internationally. Kim also leads the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation–funded project “Geospatial Mapping for Alternative Health Assets” and created an interactive ICE Detention Tracker that maps detention facilities and resources for affected communities.

Reflecting on the project, Kim said, “I saw the need for a broader, nationwide, accessible visualization of the re-opening of detention centers and where they are located. Maps, particularly counter-maps, are uniquely powerful community and participatory tools that offer an alternative narrative: counter-maps can challenge narratives of criminalization by documenting policing (instead of crime, for example).”