April 2026 SW-IFL Newsletter

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UPCOMING EVENTS

May 8: Resilient Solutions Team Meeting

May 14: Leadership Team Meeting

May 15: Modeling Team Meeting

May 20: Observations Team Meeting

Sep 2026: DOE PAMS Report

Dec 2026: Final SW-IFL Annual Report

LEADERSHIP MESSAGES

Happy Fall, SW-IFL Team!

As we publish our final public-facing SW-IFL newsletter, I can't help but reflect on all that we have already accomplished in the SW-IFL

The integration across disciplines and working groups has been truly special. From impactful peer-reviewed publications and government engagement to broad media dissemination, the team has already established a significant footprint

As we enter our final summer, I look forward to finalizing our key initiatives and seeing our various 'spinoff' projects take flight While our formal structure will evolve in the coming months, the legacy of the SW-IFL will undoubtedly endure

Thank you for your dedication I wish you a productive summer and the very best of luck with your upcoming publications and proposals!

Sincerely,

Dr. David Sailor SW-IFL Director

LEADERSHIP MESSAGES

Serving as Deputy Director of the SW-IFL has been a true privilege. What stands out the most for me is the strength of our SW-IFL family: the willingness to connect ideas, support one another, and propel projects forward in meaningful ways.

Our SW-IFL project has truly pushed the boundaries of convergence research, demonstrating how to bring people together to address complex societal challenges.

As we move into a new phase, I’m exceptionally excited to see how relationships will carry on into new efforts. There are already promising opportunities ahead, including the arrival of DUSTIEAIM in Arizona This DOE ARM project will, I believe, open many doors to continued collaboration and new initiatives

I look forward to building on the momentum that has been created within our SW-IFL and broader IFL and DOE family.

Regards,

Dr. Jean Andino

SW-IFL Deputy Director

ADDRESSING EXTREME HEAT AND ASSOCIATED ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIETAL STRESSORS THROUGH RESILIENT SOUTIONS & NEXTGENERATION PREDICTIVE TOOLS

PROJECT LEADS

David Sailor, ASU Jean Andino, ASU

2025 SW-IFL DISCOVERY FELLOW PROJECTS

The Community Scientist Project successfully engaged Arizona middle school students in authentic climate science by training them to collect local traffic emissions data using Northern Arizona University’s Hestia Traffic App, supported by a three-lesson, standards-aligned curriculum as the main deliverable.

Through in-person and virtual trainings, 16 teachers from 13 schools were prepared to implement the program, with at least six teaching the curriculum prior to a statewide competition held from October 20 to November 21, 2025 During the competition, 115 students created school-linked accounts and collectively earned 1,055 data-collection points, demonstrating meaningful participation and community impact

Working with Edgar Ochoa with the Discovery Fellows program was an amazi way to partner with schools and reach middle school students. Edgar did a great creating curriculum, training teachers, a involving students in our project. The Discovery Fellows program itself is a fantastic innovation for projects to conne with their communities.

- Helen Rowe, NAU

The project also achieved broader outreach through a statewide press release and produced multiple deliverables, including curriculum materials, training resources, and conference presentations. Student and teacher feedback highlighted strong engagement and inspiration, captured by one student’s reflection: “It made me think a little bit about becoming a scientist. I like collecting data that can help people,” underscoring the project’s success in fostering scientific interest while generating valuable environmental data.

2025 SW-IFL DISCOVERY FELLOW PROJECTS

The Manufactured Housing and Heat Project convened five regional stakeholder meetings to discuss issues related to mobile home residents, including issues of heat-related death and illnesses, as well as utility costs and assistance.

During the project, which ran from April to August 2025, Raye Winch, SW-IFL Discovery Fellow, met with stakeholders in both small group and individual meetings to identify tangible steps towards improving heat resilience. These stakeholders included mobile home and manufactured housing residents, local utility companies, public health authorities, local policy makers, and various representatives from educational and research institutions

"Raye is the connective tissue that makes two-way science communication possible. Raye works closely with the MH communities and partners who most need the resilient heat solutions that SWIFL is working to build. Raye helped us the build the trust and access we needed to learn from the community, and build solutions the community really needs with our partners in government and other policymakers."

- Mark Kear, U of A

The project distributed information related to resources for mobile home and manufactured housing residents in the areas of weatherization, home repair, university studies, and available legal services

Project results were also featured in a poster presentation at the 2025 SW-IFL All Hands Meeting in Tucson, Arizona, titled, “Accountability Abyss: Submetered Utilties in Mobile Home Parks.”

In November 2025, the project participated in an Arizona Public Media Documentary titled, Mobile Homes: The Last Affordable Housing? Significant portions of issues involving submetering in Manufacture Housing Communities were included from the project.

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Researcher Recognitions

We are excited to recognize the accomplishments and honors earned by our Southwest Urban IFL research team members for their continued excellence in various research activities.

Dr. Katia Lamer (BNL) was nominated for the Blavatnik National Award for Young Scientists based, in part, on her work with SW-IFL.

Dr Enrique Vivoni (ASU) was awarded an American Geophysical Union Fellow Award in December 2025

Dr Kevin Gurney (NAU) was selected as lead author for IPCC’s Special Report on Climate Change and Cities This report is scheduled to release in March 2027

Dr Patricia Solis (ASU) was named as a 2026 fellow of the American Association of Geographers for her ten years of contributions to the field This is one of the highest disciplinary distinctions from AAG

Several of the Planning Discovery team members presented research at the American Association of Geographers' meeting in San Francisco. Former SW-IFL postdoc Saida Sobhaninia (ASU), Dr. Sara Meerow (ASU), and Dr. Ladd Keith(UofA) were awarded a grant from the American Red Cross to evaluate the effectiveness of heat action plans globally leveraging our team's work evaluating heat action plans.

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Researcher Career Advancement

Brookhaven National Lab’s (BNL) Dr Edwin Davis accepted a scientist position at Vikram Sarabhai Space Center in India.

Arizona State University’s graduate student, Joseph Karanja, accepted a Postdoctoral Research Assistant position at Princeton University.

2025 Fulbright Specialists Award

Arizona State University’s postdoctoral researcher, Dr. Deepak Amaripadath, accepted a faculty position at the University of Liege in Belgium.

Dr Fengqi Li fro Ridge Nationa (ORNL) accept Assistant Prof position with Center for Arch Science & Eco (CASE) at Rens Polytechnic Inst Brooklyn, NY.

The Fulbright Specialist Program connects U S experts with institutions world-wide for collaborative projects In November 2025, Dr Ladd Keith (U of A) traveled to northeastern India to share expertise in heat planning and governance at the National Institute of Technology Patna (NIT-P) During this time, Dr Keith delivered a five day workshop to faculty and students and led planning sessions As a result of this exchange, NIT-P plans to launch to new academic courses for students at all academic levels

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Community Outreach

Chris Lim (U of A) presented “Air Pollution and Health”, at the Environmental Youth Summit: Your Voice, Your Choice, Creating a More Sustainable Future in Santa Cruz County in October 2025 at the University of Arizona’s Emerging Leaders Program.

Research Activities

MaRTY Cart and Green infrastructure Data Dissemination

Led by Dr. Kristina Currans (U of A) in collaboration with the SW-IFL Observations Teams

The Resilient Solutions Team compiled results of data collected from MaRTy cart research activities in Tucson, which focused on locations around Tucson with (and without) green infrastructure. Future activities will includ MaRTy cart data collection activities

Plan to Land

Led by Dr. Kristina Currans (U of A)

This on-going project explores how planned policies can be linked with local projects that address heat Data was collected on plan adoption in the Oracle Corridor and broader Tucson area, and linked policy, program, and projects at a city and/or county level to census track level

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS CON’T.

K - 12 Education - Arizona Project WET

Led by Lisa Townsend (U of A)

For the 2026 spring semester, AZ Project WET continues to provide workshops for teachers and Water Festivals for students. The curricula for 4th, 7th, and 8th grades include content that is focused on SW-IFL related research topics and aims to introduce heat-related content into schools.

Fall 2025 Participants

Students - 4,683

Teachers - 185

Schools - 57 2023-2025 Participants

Students - 19,318 Teachers - 757 Schools - 251 Volunteers - 1,483

U of A Tree Planting

Led by Dr. Heidi Brown and Dr. Sam Chambers (U of A)

At the request of a local stakeholder, Drs. Heidi Brown and Sam Chambers from University of Arizona assisted the university in creating a plan for tree planting on the campus

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS CON’T.

National Academy of Sciences - Frontiers of Science Symposium

Ladd Keith (UofA) presented SW-IFL heat planning and governance research at the National Academy of Sciences’ Frontiers of Science Symposium on March 5-7, 2026.

The Symposium series is designed to expose young researchers to ideas and research outside their chosen fields and give researchers access to a broad network of colleagues from different fields and institutions.

Report: Exploring Urban Heat as a Pedestrian: A MaRTy Cart Study of Tucson, Arizona in June 2025

Resilient Solutions team members, led by Dr Kristi Currans (UofA), completed a report detailing the impacts of different types of shade on pedestrians along the Oracle Road test bed A MaRTy cart, from Dr Ariane Middel’s SHaDE Lab at ASU, was used to measure mean radiant temperature at locations pedestrians use and compared different types of shade to nonshaded conditions.

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS CON’T.

ASU’s Urban Climate Research Center (UCRC) Poster Event

Multiple SW-IFL student researchers presented at the 2026 Urban Climate Research Center (UCRC) Poster Event at Arizona State University The event exhibited a record-breaking 40 posters, showcasing cutting-edge research from undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral scholars advancing urban climate science and extreme heat resilience.

CLICK HERE to see the 2026 winning posters.

KVOA Interview

U of A Professor Talks Extreme Heat Awareness

On March 19, 2026 Dr. Ladd Keith (UofA) was interviewed by local news affiliate, KVOA, after the recent record-breaking heat in Arizona about the significance of heat as the leading weather-related killer.

PLANNED ACTIVITIES

Outreach and Presentations

The Resilient Solutions team faculty and students will present at the upcoming CATE conference held at the UofA on May 27-29, 2026. CATE talks will highlight water scarcity and extreme heat in the Sonoran Desert. Topics covered will include SW-IFL research such as the thermal comfort of manufactured home residents, heat planning and governance in Arizona, the use of AI in plan evaluation and plan development, and the implementation of community plans for heat mitigation.

Conference - Natural Hazards Workshop

Alekzander Ryan (UofA) will present on the use of AI in plan evaluation and plan development at the Natural Hazards Workshop in Boulder, Colorado from June 14-18, 2026. Sara Meerow (ASU) will present on complementary approaches for analyzing cities’ networks of plans.

Cool Pavement Deployment

Plans are in progress to deploy new cool pavement sites within Phoenix, both before and after installation, as well as revisiting previous sites from 2025

PRESENTATIONS

Since October 2025, SW-IFL researchers have presented at the following conferences:

ASU Flow and Arizona Hydrological Society Symposium in Tempe, Arizona

Environmental Defense Fund Science Day in New York, New York

Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning (ACSP) Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Boston University Biogeoscience Seminar Series in Boston, Massachusetts

American Geophysical Union (AGU) Annual Meeting 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana

American Society of Thermal and Fluids Engineers (ASTFE), TFEC2026 Conference in Tempe, Arizona

PUBLICATIONS

During the SW-IFL project researchers engaged in numerous research activities and strive to share their finding in peer-reviewed publications. Our team’s most recent publications are highlighted below.

Under the supervision of Dr Katia Lamer (BNL), student, Dan Waxman (Stony Brook University), submitted an article, “Designing an Optimal Sensor Network via Minimizing Information Loss,” to Bayesian Analysis, and it was accepted for publication https://doi org/10 1214/25-BA1574

(ASU) Sobhaninia, Saeideh, Patricia Solís, Ebenezer N.K. Boateng and Isaac Buo. 2026 A Framework for Strategic Transformation of Vacant Lots for Heat Resilience. Journal of Environmental Management. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2025.128540.

(ASU) Sobhaninia, Saeideh, Patricia Solís, Ebenezer N K Boateng, Reese Gould and Jacob Heid 2026 Planning for Cooler Communities: Vacant Lots as Components of Heat Resilience in Mesa The Geographical Review https://doi org/10 1080/00167428 2025 2587590

(U of A) Honghyok Kim, Chris Chaeha Lim, Toward equitable environmental exposure modeling through convergence of data, open, and citizen sciences: an example of air pollution exposure modeling amidst increasing wildfire smoke, Environmental Research, Volume 286, Part 2, 2025, 122881, ISSN 0013-9351, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2025.122881.

(ASU) Meerow, S. Spatial planning and the governance of urban greening. Nat Cities (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44284-026-00427-x

(UofA) Lim CC, Race JA, Kaur P, et al Trends and Disparities in Heat-Related Emergency Medical Services Activations JAMA 2026;335(9):818–820 https://doi org/10 1001/jama 2025 26586

(ASU) Parker King, Jennifer Vanos, Zachary Van Tol, Jose R. Medina Campillo, Ariane Middel, Beyond surface cooling: Comprehensive field assessment of reflective pavement thermal performance in Phoenix, Arizona, Building and Environment, Volume 294, 2026, 114373, ISSN 0360-1323, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2026.114373

(ASU) Alamin Molla, Katia Lamer, David J. Sailor, Citizen science coupled with machine learning to quantify green-blue infrastructure cooling potential in Maricopa County, Arizona, Sustainable Cities and Society, Volume 139, 2026, 107211, ISSN 2210-6707, https://doi org/10 1016/j scs 2026 107211

(ASU) Ashish Rana, Priyanshu Meshram, Vernon R. Morris, Jean M. Andino, Prediction of the spectral frequencies and relative radiative efficiencies of products from the reactions of glyoxal, Atmospheric Environment, Volume 365, 2026, 121697, ISSN 1352-2310, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2025.121697.

MEDIA

Since October 2025, SW-IFL researchers have participated in 14 interviews with 12 different outlets

SW-IFL’s Modeling Team co-lead, Dr. Kevin Gurney from Northern Arizona University was interviewed by The New York Times for a recent series of articles titled, “Lost Science.” This series interviewed four research scientists to discuss the impact of federal funding cuts to research in both the science and communities. Dr. Gurney’s interview can be found HERE.

RESOURCES AND REMINDERS

UPCOMING REMINDERS

September 2026: final project report to the US Department of Energy will be submitted via PAMs

December 2026: final public-facing SW-IFL Annual Report will be released

ADDRESSING EXTREME HEAT AND ASSOCIATED ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIETAL STRESSORS THROUGH RESILIENT SOUTIONS & NEXTGENERATION PREDICTIVE TOOLS

CALL FOR SW-IFL PHOTOS

Did you capture images or videos during the SW-IFL activities? If so, we’d love to have them. Feel free to upload your photos and videos throughout the year, but especially of this summer’s IOP campaigns and activities using this GOOGLE PHOTO FORM.

Please note, uploaded images and videos will be shared in our public facing annual report and in other various report outs for conferences and meetings through out the year.

RESOURCES

SW-IFL Team Google calendar (Internal use only)

SW-IFL Website

SW-IFL SharePoint Page (Internal use only)

SW-IFL Newsletter Sign Up

Email SW-IFL

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PROJECT LEADS

David Sailor, ASU

Jean Andino, ASU