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CRB Nexus Public Scholars Database

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Welcome to the CRB Nexus: Where Policy Meets Research database of California public researchers. The database aims to further connect legislative, gubernatorial, and agency staff by policy area and keyword to California’s preeminent researchers. We will continuously update entries as California partner-recommended public researchers provide their information to CRB Nexus.

If you are legislative or gubernatorial staff who would like CRB Nexus to connect you with a California public researcher, if you want a to read their publications, or if you want to provide feedback about CRB Nexus, please contact CRB Nexus Project Director Tonya D. Lindsey, Ph.D., or email crb@library.ca.gov.

Members of the public, if you want to access articles or a book by one of the public researchers in the CRB Nexus database, your local library can assist you.

Looking for California grant funding? Check out the California Grants Portal.

For a searchable national database of public scholars check out our CRB Nexus partner Scholars Strategy Network.

Filter By

Institution

Policy Area

Alana Haynes Stein

University of California, Davis

Policy Areas

Human Services, Higher Education, Environment & Natural Resources

Keywords

Poverty, Food Assistance, Environmental Justice, Public Scholarship, Food Security

Bio

Alana is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of California, Davis. Her research focuses on poverty, food and the environment, nonprofit organizations, and publicly-engaged scholarship. In her work, she pulls on the methods of ethnography, in-depth interviews, geospatial analysis, content analysis, and network analysis. Alana's main body of research focuses on understanding inequalities in the food system by studying food banks. Her current work focuses on U.S. food banks' resources, practices, and decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic. She has also published on programmatic barriers to accessing food assistance programs and relationships between food banks and local farms. Alana has also worked with Imagining America to research graduate student experiences with publicly engaged scholarship. This work was part of Imagining America's Leading and Learning Initiative, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Alana's newest area of research is part of an interdisciplinary team looking at community engagement with California's water allocation models amidst a changing climate.

Selected Publications

Amy E. Lerman

University of California, Berkeley

Policy Areas

Public Safety, Health, General Government

Keywords

Civic Engagement, Public Safety, Health, Education, Social Services

Bio

Amy E. Lerman is the Michelle Schwartz Chair and Professor of Public Policy and Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. She is also the Executive Director of the Possibility Lab, where she leads a team of researchers and practitioners who collaborate with government and community organizations to design, pilot, and scale data-driven innovation for the public good. Her scholarship can be found in a wide variety of academic journals and several award-winning books, and has been featured in numerous media outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, CNN, and NPR. She consults widely on issues related to civic engagement and trust in government, evidence-based policymaking, access to higher education, criminal justice reform, and law enforcement mental health. In addition to her research, Lerman previously served as a speechwriter and communications consultant for national nonprofits and members of the United States Congress, a community organizer in Latin America and Southeast Asia, and an adjunct faculty member of the college at San Quentin State Prison. In 2023, Lerman was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Selected Publications

Annie Benn

University of California, Berkeley

Policy Areas

General Government

Keywords

Regulation, Bureaucracy

Bio

I am a PhD Candidate in Political Science at UC Berkeley. My research focuses on US political institutions; in particular the executive branch. I am especially interested in federal executive-branch policymaking (e.g., presidential unilateral actions and agency rulemaking) in the context of separation of powers. In my research, I use text analysis, empirical methods, and formal theory to investigate questions about presidential management, bureaucratic responsiveness, and polarization. My work has been published in Presidential Studies Quarterly.

Selected Publications

  • Presidential Partisanship and Regulatory Review. By Annie Benn. Presidential Studies Quarterly. 2023.
  • The Administrative Politics of Unilateral Action: Measuring Delegation and Discretion in the Executive Branch. By Annie Benn. Presidential Studies Quarterly. Forthcoming.

Candice Odgers

University of California, Irvine

Policy Areas

Education Pre-K through 12, Health

Keywords

Digital Technology, Adolescent Mental Health, Childhood Adversity, Social Media, Poverty

Bio

Candice Odgers is a Professor of Psychological Science and Informatics at the University of California Irvine and Co-Director of the Child & Brain Development Program at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. She was previously a Professor of Public Policy at the Sanford School at Duke University. She received her PhD in developmental and quantitative psychology at the University of Virginia and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry at Kings College London. Her research focuses on how early experiences and social inequalities influence child and adolescent development, with an emphasis on how digital technologies can be leveraged to understand and improve the lives of young people. She currently leads a large network of psychologists and computer scientists testing how online platforms and tools can be improved to support and protect young people. She is the author of over 100 scientific publications, appearing in journals such as Nature and the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences and her research has been disseminated widely via outlets such as the Economist, New York Times, London Times, Scientific American, and the Washington Post. More information about her work can be found on adaptlab.org

Selected Publications

  • Adolescent Mental Health in the Digital Age: Facts, Fears and Future Directions. By Candice Odgers, Michaeline Jensen. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 2020.
  • Screen Time, Social Media Use, and Adolescent Development. By Candice L. Odgers, Stephen M. Schueller, Mimi Ito. Annual Review of Developmental Psychology. 2020.
  • Smartphones Are Bad for Some Teens, Not All. By Candice Odgers. Nature. 2018.
  • Challenges to low-income children in an era of increasing income inequality. By Candice L. Odgers, Nancy E. Adler. Child Development Perspectives. 2017.

Charis E. Kubrin

University of California, Irvine

Policy Areas

Public Safety

Keywords

Crime, Violence, Decarceration, Criminal Justice Reform, Immigration

Bio

Charis E. Kubrin is Professor of Criminology, Law & Society and (by courtesy) Sociology. She is also a member of the Council on Criminal Justice, the Racial Democracy, Crime and Justice- Network, the Diversity Scholars Network, the Scholars Strategy Network, The UC Consortium on Social Science and Law, and UCI's Center for Population, Inequality, and Policy. She is an expert for the Crime and Justice Research Alliance. Kubrin's research analyzes neighborhood correlates of crime, with an emphasis on race and violent crime. Recent work examines the immigration-crime nexus across neighborhoods and cities, as well as assesses the impact of criminal justice reform on crime rates. Another line of research explores the intersection of music, culture, and social identity, particularly as it applies to hip hop and youth of color in disadvantaged communities. Professor Kubrin has received several national awards including the Ruth Shonle Cavan Young Scholar Award from the American Society of Criminology (for outstanding scholarly contributions to the discipline of criminology); the Coramae Richey Mann Award from the Division on People of Color and Crime, the American Society of Criminology (for outstanding contributions of scholarship on race/ethnicity, crime, and justice); and the W.E.B. DuBois Award from the Western Society of Criminology (for significant contributions to racial and ethnic issues in the field of criminology). Most recently she received the Paul Tappan Award from the Western Society of Criminology (for outstanding contributions to the field of criminology). In 2019, she was named a Fellow of the American Society of Criminology.

Selected Publications

Christopher Towler

California State University, Sacramento

Policy Areas

Higher Education, General Government, Economy

Keywords

Public Opinion, Racial and Ethnic Politics, Urban Politics, Social Movements, Political Ideology

Bio

Dr. Christopher Towler is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at California State University, Sacramento. His research and teaching interests broadly include American politics, race and ethnicity, and methodology. More specifically, his work examines ideological predispositions, alienation, political allegiance and support. Recent projects examine the dynamic relationship between progressive social movements and far-right movements reacting to great social change. He received his Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Washington, Seattle, and holds a B.A. from the University of Colorado. A former McNair and Ralph Bunche scholar, Dr. Towler was also a McNair Graduate Fellow as well as a Ford Foundation Pre-Doctoral and Dissertation Fellow. His work has been published in Perspectives on Politics, Journal of Race, Ethnicity and Politics and Du Bois Review. Dr. Towler also directs the Black Voter Project public opinion survey, a national survey project of Black Americans, with results highlighted in Politico Magazine, Washington Post, Time Magazine, USA Today, Seattle Times, and the Atlantic.

Selected Publications

Darien Shanske

University of California, Davis

Policy Areas

Economy, General Government, Housing, Transportation & Infrastructure

Keywords

Corporate Income Taxes, Property Taxes, Proposition 13, Digital Taxes, Public Finance

Bio

Professor Darien Shanske holds a J.D. from Stanford Law School, a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in Rhetoric, an M.A. from McGill University in Philosophy, and a B.A. from Columbia University. Before law school, Professor Shanske worked as a financial consultant to California local governments; after law school, he worked as an attorney in the public finance department of Sidley Austin in San Francisco. Professor Shanske then clerked for Judge Pierre N. Leval of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Professor Shanske's academic interests include taxation, particularly state and local taxation, local government law, public finance, and political theory, particularly jurisprudence.

Selected Publications

David Lewis Feldman

University of California, Irvine

Policy Areas

Environment & Natural Resources, General Government, Utilities & Energy

Keywords

Water Resources Policy, Climate Policy, Adaptive Management, Desalination and Water Innovations, Environmental Justice

Bio

Professor of Urban Planning & Public Policy and Political Science at UC Irvine. He also serves as director of Water UCI. As Water UCI director he currently oversees projects on California's Water Resilience portfolio, contaminants of emerging concern, the Internet-of-things as applied to water, and several education and outreach activities. His PhD. and M.S. are from the University of Missouri, and B.A. from Kent State University. Feldman previously served as lead author for a U.S. Climate Change Science Program report on climate and water and was co-Principal Investigator on an NSF-Partnerships for International Research and Education project with Australian universities on water reuse and stormwater harvesting. He has also collaborated on research projects in Israel and the European Union. The author/co-author of nearly 100 articles and book chapters, he has written: The Governance of Water Innovations (2022); Water Politics: Governing our most precious resource (2017); The Water Sustainable City (2017); Water (Polity, 2012); The Politics of Environmental Policy in Russia (with Ivan Blokov, 2012); Water Policy for Sustainable Development (2007); and Water Resources Management: In Search of an Environmental Ethic (1995).

Selected Publications

  • The Governance of Water Innovations: To Quench a Thirst. By David Feldman. Edward Elgar. 2022.
  • Water Politics: Governing Our Most Precious Resource. By David Feldman. Polity. 2017.
  • Coronavirus Spotlights the Link between Clean Water and Health. By David Feldman. The Conversation on Water. Johns Hopkins. 2023.
  • Redrawing Our Urban Waters: Merging Design, Law, and Policy in Advancing Distributed Water Systems. By Brook Muller, Adell Amos, Cerra, Josh, Feldman, David L, Lau Tatum, Chingwen Chen, Erik Porse, Noelwah Netusil, Josh Cerra.. Handbook of Sustainable Cities and Landscapes in the Pacific Rim. Taylor & Francis. 2022.
  • Water. By David Feldman. Polity. 2012.

Denise Diaz Payán

University of California, Irvine

Policy Areas

Health

Keywords

Nutrition, Obesity, Food Security, Tobacco Control, Health Equity

Bio

Dr. Denise D. Payán PhD, MPP is an Associate Professor in the Public Health Program at UC Irvine. She is a health policy researcher who leads the Community Health & Innovative Policy (CHIP) Lab and is Faculty Director of the state-wide research translation center, the California Initiative for Health Equity & Action (Cal-IHEA). Her research expertise includes examining health policymaking and implementation processes and outcomes; evaluating interventions to address obesity and nutrition-related health disparities; and understanding how policy impacts health behavior. Research interests: health policy; obesity; nutrition; food security; state policy; advocacy coalitions; evaluation; implementation

Selected Publications

Desiree R. Delgadillo

University of California, Los Angeles

Policy Areas

Health, Human Services

Keywords

Health Psychology, Brain-Gut Microbiome, Positive Emotion, Stress, Mother-Child

Bio

Dr. Desi Delgadillo is a first-generation college graduate and Postdoctoral Researcher at UCLA's School of Medicine. As a graduate student, Desi earned numerous fellowships and awards including the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship, Eugene Cota-Robles Fellowship, Provost PhD Fellowship, Microbiome Initiative Pilot Project Award, and most recently was awarded the President's Postdoctoral Fellowship. As a Health Psychologist, her program of research focuses on the interplay between emotions, stress, close relationships, psychophysiology and the composition of the microbiome in both children and adults. Desi's research aims to reveal mind-gut-microbiome connections that improve quality of life across socioeconomic status, ethnic groups, and health statuses across the lifespan. As an interdisciplinary researcher in a relatively untapped frontier, her goal is to help create a new, integrated understanding of how microbial and psychological systems may work together to mutually perpetuate wellness.

Selected Publications