Meet the Team

Dr. Bharat Venkat

2014 Ph.D., Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley

2007 M.A., Cultural and Social Anthropology, Stanford University

2006 B.A., Cultural and Social Anthropology, Stanford University

Dr. Bharat Jayram Venkat is the director of the UCLA Heat Lab and is an Associate Professor at UCLA with a joint appointment spanning the Institute for Society & Genetics, the Department of History, and the Department of Anthropology. He is also affiliated with the UCLA Center for India & South Asia, the Program in Digital Humanities, the Urban Humanities Initiative, and the Luskin Center for Innovation. His research draws on the intellectual and methodological traditions of history and anthropology to study questions related to science, medicine, environment, race, and design.

Guadalupe Bernabe

Class of 2024
Human Biology and Society

Current Projects:
TRAG Watts Heat Project

Karina Brunn

Class of 2024
Human Biology and Society

Current Projects:
Heat and Incarceration, Heat Data Analysis, Hot Takes Podcast

Katarina Cabrera

Class of 2024
Human Biology and Society

Current Projects:
TRAG Watts Heat Project, Heat & Gender

Desiree Eshraghi

Class of 2024
Psychobiology
+ Disability Studies Minor

Current Projects:
Heat Data Analysis, Heat & Aging, Website

Natalie Gurzeler

Class of 2026
Pre-Human Biology and Society

Current Projects:
Education, Hot Takes Podcast, Social Media

Symphony Jackson

Class of 2025
Human Biology and Society

Current Projects:
TRAG Watts Heat Project, Heat & Immigration

Giao

Nguyen

Class of 2024
Human Biology and Society
+ Global Health Minor

Current Projects:
Education

Sofia

Sabra

Class of 2024
Human Biology and Society + Anthropology Minor

Current Projects:
Heat Data Analysis, Education

Jason Sutedja

Class of 2024
Sociology
Public Affairs

Current Projects:
Hot Takes Podcast

Olivia

Toledo

Class of 2024
Geography & Environmental Studies
+ Geographic Information Systems and Technology Minor

Current Projects:
Heat and Incarceration

Chelsea

Tran

Class of 2024
Human Biology and Society
+ Philosophy Minor

Current Projects:
Lab Manager, Hot Takes Podcast, Heat and Incarceration, Heat Data Analysis, Sleep & Thermal Comfort

Tracy

Tran

Class of 2024
Environmental Science

Current Projects:
Education, Heat Data Analysis, Hot Takes Podcast

Ashwin Vasudevan

Class of 2024
Human Biology and Society

Current Projects:
Education, Heat and Incarceration, Heat & Aging, Website

Diego
Flores

Class of 2022
Political Science

Current Projects:
Indoor heat, Occupational Safety, and Thermal Inequality

Heat Lab Alumni

Sean Sugai

TRAG Watts Heat Project (Sustainable LA Grand Challenge Undergraduate Research Scholars Program 2021-22), Heat and Incarceration, (Re)considering Race and Heat (Honors 88C Seminar)

Vanessa De La Torre

Agricultural Workers – Heat Perception, Adaption, and Risk

Judy Chon

Heat Chapter Book,
Education

Hozumi Oshida

Heat and Chronic Illness in South Central LA,
Meta-Analysis for Thermal Physiology and Thermal Comfort

Kanishka Mehra

Food Truck Audit

Gael Perez

TRAG Watts Heat Project

Sierra Stevenson

Lab Manger, Food Truck Audit, Website, Heat and Homes in Boyle Heights

Christine King

Race and Heat: Occupational Risk in Regards to Heat Exposure

Alice Lu

It’s Always Sunny in Central LA (UCLA Library 2021 Undergraduate Research Prize for Special Collections)
Meta-Analysis for Thermal Physiology and Thermal Comfort

Hanna Barlow

Education,
Social Media

Edna Tovar

TRAG Watts Heat Project, (Re)considering Race and Heat (Honors 88C Seminar)

Cameron Jewett

Heat and Chronic Illness in South Central LA,
Food Truck Audit,
Social Media

Alex Nechaev

It’s Always Sunny in Central LA (UCLA Library 2021 Undergraduate Research Prize for Special Collections)
Meta-Analysis for Thermal Physiology and Thermal Comfort

Ashley Kenney

Education,
It’s Always Sunny in Central LA (UCLA Library 2021 Undergraduate Research Prize for Special Collections),
Gone Bananas,
Food Truck Audit,
Social Media