Hayat Rasul
Graduate Student, Water Resources Group Executive Committee
Urban and Regional Planning at UCLA's Luskin School of Public Affairs
Pronouns: She/They
From the San Fernando Valley, Hayat Rasul (she/they) has an affection for all-things water. Hayat has an undergraduate degree in Geology at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, specializing in hydrogeophysics and aquatics. After graduating in 2019, Hayat spent time in the world of citizen science at the Alliance for Aquatic Resource Monitoring, educating and engaging with volunteer monitors to develop scientific studies and collect water quality data on their local waterways.
In 2021, having gained an interest in the rules humans place on water, Hayat returned home to pursue a Master’s Degree in the Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) program at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs. Her research, housed within the Luskin Center for Innovation Human Right to Water Lab, explores policies that manage water in California, particularly with how water agencies can prioritize solutions in and engage authentically with underserved communities.
Hayat is currently working on policy research for Local Integrated Regional Water Management (IRWM) programs, the Department of Water Resources’ Disadvantaged Community and Tribal Involvement Program, and the California State Water Resources Control Boards’ Safe and Affordable Funding for Equity and Resilience (SAFER) Drinking Water.
Outside of researching water professionally, Hayat is likely in water, rambling through tide pools in Malibu, or writing love poems to it.