El’s research examines how urban heat is produced through interactions between biophysical systems, human processes, and the built environment. Their work is situated at the intersection of hazards geography, urban analytics, and urban sustainability, with a growing emphasis on critical physical geography as a framework for understanding the relationship between physical processes and political structures. Drawing from both technical and critical approaches, El’s research bridges geospatial data science and qualitative inquiry to investigate how thermal risks are distributed, experienced, and mitigated in cities.

They apply quantitative methodologies such as remote sensing, microclimate modeling, and machine learning to quantify patterns of heat exposure and environmental change, while also using qualitative methods to examine questions of equity, security, and the lived experience of urban heat. Their interdisciplinary approach is informed by political ecology, urban climatology, environmental justice, and the geographies of vulnerability and resilience with the goal of advancing more just and effective strategies for climate adaptation. El is particularly interested in how urban form, environmental conditions, and structural inequities shape the spatial and social distribution of heat.

Faculty Advisor: Hamil Pearsall