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UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation Wins Sustainable Impact Award

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The UCLA Meyer and Renee Luskin Center for Innovation was awarded the Sustainable Impact Award by the Los Angeles Business Council on April 19, 2018, at the organization’s 12th annual Sustainability Summit. Attending a VIP and awards reception at the summit were Meyer and Renee Luskin and JR DeShazo, director of the Center for Innovation. “The award recognizes the impact that Meyer and Renee’s generous gift has had on Los Angeles through UCLA. I felt grateful to be able to receive it with them,” said DeShazo, who also serves as the chair of Public Policy at UCLA Luskin. The award cited the Center for Innovation for its “leadership in developing cutting-edge strategies to spur renewable energy and energy efficiency in California.” The award further recognized the Center for “supporting the creation and implementation of state and local policies, investments and plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” This year’s summit featured regional leaders such as Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti for a discussion on West Coast climate leadership. The two-day summit also included expert panels about clean energy and climate change, as well as water management, resources and security. — Stan Paul

View photos on Flickr:

Sustainable Impact Award

Hector Palencia Elected to Key NASW Committee The Social Welfare field faculty member will help identify leaders for the California chapter of the social workers organization

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Social Welfare field faculty member Hector Palencia MSW ’08 has been elected to a key committee of the National Association of Social Workers’ California chapter. Palencia will serve on the Committee on Nominations and Leadership Identification for Regions G, H and I, an area including Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. In this role, Palencia will help identify leaders in the field of social welfare and select candidates for the chapter’s top positions. Palencia, a licensed clinical social worker who also holds an MA in systematic theology, specializes in working with gang members and other marginalized youth.

GPA Talk: Policy to Results

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On May 3, 2018, Global Public Affairs at UCLA Luskin invited Seema Manghee from World Bank to discuss policy to results at the subnational level. “Today, local governments worldwide have at least a basic understanding of what is needed to deliver safe and reliable services to the population. Nevertheless, it is quite difficult to move from a policy statement to actual results.” She shared the use of Service Delivery Toolkit and Self-Rating System that should be accessible to all local governments.

View photos on Flickr:

GPA talk_Seema Manghee

Reception Officially Welcomes Karen Umemoto to UCLA Faculty

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UCLA Luskin Urban Planning recently joined with the UCLA Asian Studies Center and other campus partners to officially welcome new faculty member Karen Umemoto. A reception in her honor was held April 25, 2018, at the Meyer and Renee Luskin Conference Center. In addition to joining the UCLA Luskin Urban Planning faculty, Umemoto will lead the Asian American Studies Center as the inaugural holder of the Helen and Morgan Chu Endowed Director’s Chair. Other partners for the reception were the Asian American Studies Department at UCLA and the UCLA Institute of American Cultures.

Click or swipe below to browse photos from the reception.

Welcome Karen Umemoto

Read more about Umemoto and her new role at UCLA:

Karen Umemoto is Appointed Helen and Morgan Chu Endowed Director’s Chair of the Asian American Studies Center and Professor of Urban Planning and Asian American Studies

 

From the Daily Bruin: Profile of UCLA Luskin’s Michelle Dennis

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Transforming New Urban Culture

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On April 30, 2018, GPA hosted a lecture by Mayor Ridwan Kamil from Bandung, Indonesia. Bandung is Indonesia’s third largest city. As an architect turned mayor, Kamil increased efforts to build a smart city technology to improve government service. Fortune recently included him in its list of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders, citing his efforts to use software applications to improve efficiency and sidestep bureaucracy.

Click or swipe below to view a Flickr album of the talk.

Mayor of Bandung, Indonesia

Gross Fellowship Recipients Meet Their Benefactors at Luncheon

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Lindsay Graef MPP ’19, Ryan Weinberg MPP ’19, Estefania Zavala MPP ’18, and Taylor Wyatt MPP ’18 are all recipients of a fellowship award from UCLA Luskin thanks to Calvin “Cal” Gross and his wife, Marilyn Gross. The couple, who are longtime supporters of the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, stopped by campus to meet the students and engage in conversation about their futures during a luncheon on April 13, 2018. The Calvin and Marilyn Gross Fellowship recognizes policy students for their commitment and involvement in public service, and the luncheon gave students an opportunity to talk about the research they have undertaken in the MPP program. Cal Gross also talked about his own life and connection to the School, mentioning that he was a childhood friend of former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, who teaches at UCLA each winter quarter as a visiting professor of public policy.

Click or swipe below to view a Flickr album of photos of the 2018 fellowship recipients with Cal and Marilyn Gross and UCLA Luskin Director of Development Ricardo Quintero:

2018 Gross Fellowship

Big Data and the Commuter

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UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies and Global Public Affairs at UCLA Luskin co-hosted a lecture on April 18, 2018, by Antoine Cormount, Cities and Digital Technology chair at the Sciences Po university in Paris. Courmont’s discussion, “Big Data and Re-composition of Urban Governance in the Digital Era: The Case of the Waze App,” focused primarily on the potential for conflict between public and private goals when firms and governments use different data sets. The popular driving app Waze, Courmont explained, relies heavily on real-time crowdsourced data that is applied to help its users shorten commute times. Conversely, government-backed infrastructure like traffic cameras and roadway sensors are often employed to help reduce congestion — rather than short-term drive times. Because Waze will often route drivers through residential streets — clogging roads not designed for commuter traffic, the spillover effect from Waze’s data gathering causes regional traffic problems, governments say. Waze contends that poor urban planning has led to a need for its commute-shortening algorithms. Governments can implement a number of policies that could reduce Waze’ effectiveness, Courmont said. He also noted that Waze and governments have the potential to collaborate, share data and disseminate information on road closures and traffic hazards. — Zev Hurwitz

 

Click or swipe below to view a Flickr album of photos from the presentation:

GPA Talk on Big Data and Waze

Alumni Share Advice with Urban Planning, Public Health Students

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UCLA Luskin Urban Planning graduates Stephanie Tsai and Daniela Simunovic were joined by David Diaz of Bike San Gabriel Valley for a presentation and panel discussion on April 12, 2018, organized by UCLA Built Environment and Public Health Council. Tsai MURP ’16 works as a climate justice program associate for California Environmental Justice Alliance, and Simunovic MURP ’13 is a senior program analyst for the California Strategic Growth Council. Diaz is programs director for Bike San Gabriel Valley and also serves as a South El Monte planning commissioner. The three presenters talked about their careers, their commitment to bettering the lives of people in their communities and offered advice to current students, including the benefit of finding and cultivating mentors in their fields of interest. Student organizers such as MURP and MPH students Jasneet Bains and Rebecca Ferdman introduced the speakers and moderated a Q&A with the presenters that followed their individual presentations. Additional sponsors were UCLA Luskin Urban Planning, Environmental Health Sciences Department, UCLA Institute for Transportation Studies and the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation.

The event was organized by students. Pictured, from left to right, are Rae Spriggs (MURP & MPH), Teddy Tollin (undergraduate geography major), Rebecca Ferdman (MURP & MPH), Tsai, Jasneet Bains (MURP & MPH), Diaz, Cristina Valadez (MPH), Simunovic, and Ali Goodyear (MPH). Click or swipe below to view a Flickr album of additional photos:

 

BEPHC alumni event