Kirsten Schwarz chosen as NSF program director for environmental biology

Kirsten Schwarz, an associate professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, has been named a program director of the National Science Foundation’s Division of Environmental Biology. In the new role, she will help select which research projects are supported by the foundation’s $8.8 billion budget.

Schwarz’s scholarship at UCLA focuses on environmental hazards and amenities in cities, ranging from lead contamination in soil to how shade can improve health by reducing the extreme effects of heat. A faculty affiliate at the UCLA Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Equity, she has taught at UCLA since 2020. 

Schwarz was one of only three scientists selected by the NSF’s environmental biology division from a nationwide pool of applicants, said Kendra McLauchlan, the program’s director.