Madeline Wander is a UCLA Urban Planning PhD candidate and a graduate student researcher at the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies and the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies. Her research examines transportation disparities and justice amidst the changing geography of low-income communities of color, particularly in suburbs. Madeline holds a BA in Urban and Environmental Policy from Occidental College and a Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning from UCLA. Madeline sits on the Board of Directors of the Center on Race, Poverty, and the Environment.

Prior to pursuing her PhD, she was a Senior Data Analyst at the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (now USC Equity Research Institute) where she worked with community-based organizations, foundations, and government agencies on research around equitable urban planning, social-movement building, and environmental justice. Prior to that, she was involved in a variety of organizing efforts, including the affordable housing coalition Housing LA and Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign in Colorado.

Madeline is co-author of several publications, including: Housing Affordability and Commute Distance (Urban Geography); Carbon trading, co-pollutants, and environmental equity: Evidence from California’s cap-and-trade program (PLoS Medicine); The Haves, the Have-Nots, and the Health of Everyone: The Relationship Between Social Inequality and Environmental Quality (Annual Review of Public Health).

Madeline lives in northeast Los Angeles with her partner Ben and their children Hannah and Noah.