Active Projects
Energy Insecurity Projects
Project Title: Energy Insecurity in New York City
Role: Principal Investigator
Funder: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Project Period: 07/01/22-06/30/24; Budget: $238,000
Description: This mixed methods study seeks to accomplish the following aims:(1) to understand citywide burden of energy insecurity, (2) to understand energy insecurity associations with key health outcomes, and (3) to assess awareness and barriers to making use of existing weatherization and energy assistance benefits programs as well as clean energy technologies through surveys and in-depth interviews with New York City residents.
Project Title: Exploring racial disparities in home energy services to shed new light on persistent housing inequity
Role: Principal Investigator, (Consultants: Dr. Tony Reames, Department of Energy, Dr. Carlos Martin, Joint Center for Housing Studies, Harvard University/Brookings Institute)
Funder: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation- Policies for Action: Policy and Law Research to Build a Culture of Health
Project Number: ID 78975
Project Period: 10/01/21-09/30/23; Budget $250,000
Description: This study explores racial disparities in energy services at the national, state and local level to understand the prevalence, explanatory factors and the effects of disparities.
Project Title: Energy Insecurity Research Acceleration, Dissemination and Network Building
Role: Principal Investigator
Funder: JPB Foundation
Project Period: 06/01/23-05/31/25; Budget: $400,000
Description: This project seeks to: 1) accelerate energy insecurity research through secondary data analysis and manuscript development to build the field and create policy briefs and fact sheets to make the research findings more accessible; 2) engage a creative research dissemination strategy by launching a digital storytelling campaign in tandem with an ongoing data collection effort; and 3) build an energy insecurity/energy justice network targeting junior scholars to develop ideas, encourage collaboration and provide trusting relationships within the academy.
Housing and Health Projects
Project Title: A randomized controlled trial to support smoke-free policy compliance in public housing
Role: Principal Investigator (co-Investigators: Charles Branas, Ana Navas-Acien, David Albert & Daniel Giovenco; Community Partners: New York City Housing Authority; Health People)
Funder: National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health
Grant Number: 1 R01 CA240555-01A1 (Hernández)
Project Period: 08/01/20- 11/30/26; Budget $ $3,361,189
Description: This study addresses key gaps in knowledge and capitalizes on key scientific opportunities by: 1) leveraging the federal mandate to ban smoking in a public housing system of more than sufficient size to conduct an adequately powered RCT; 2) expanding our understanding of smoke-free policy compliance beyond policy implementation by testing two novel treatments: a) in-residence smoking cessation and b) resident endorsement, while 3) addressing population and location-specific tobacco-related disparities.