Health and environmental justice dimensions of fossil fuel extraction in the United States
David Gonzalez, Professor
Public Health
Applications for Fall 2025 are closed for this project.
For the past decade, the United States (U.S.) has been the leading global producer of oil and gas, and an estimated 17 U.S. million residents live within 1 km of active oil and gas wells. Drilling and operating wells results in air pollution, water pollution, noise, and other stressors. Recently, researchers have found that people living near wells have higher risk of a wide range of adverse health outcomes, including premature birth, heart attack, childhood leukemia, anxiety, and depression. Studies in some regions have found that wells are disproportionately sited near people with racially and socioeconomically marginalized identities. Researchers at the Socioenvironmental Equity/Equidad Socioambiental (EQUIS) Lab have contributed to the scientific literature on these topics.
We are recruiting two Research Apprentices who are interested in helping us expand on this work. Specifically, we plan to investigate population exposures to abandoned wells, which are widespread but poorly understood with respect to their potential impacts on public health. We also plan to investigate whether wildfires exacerbate health hazards for people living near fossil fuel infrastructure. We will provide training on fundamental data science skills and applying statistical inference methods.
Role: Under guidance from mentors in the EQUIS Lab, Research Apprentices will:
1. Hone fundamental data science skills, including managing diverse datasets and codebases for collaborative projects
2. Assemble, prepare, and curate environmental, biomedical, and sociodemographic datasets
3. Conduct exploratory statistical analyses related to the distribution of fossil fuel infrastructure and sociodemographic characteristics of nearby populations
4. Synthesize and assist with interpreting results
5. Participate in bi-weekly EQUIS Lab meetings
Qualifications: 1. Experience working with geospatial information systems (GIS) (required)
2. Familiarity with coding in R or Python (required)
3. Interest in applying data science skills to research questions in public health, environmental justice, and/or related fields (desired)
4. Willingness to be an active member of EQUIS Lab for the duration of the apprenticeship (desired)
Hours: 3-5 hrs
Off-Campus Research Site: Apprentices will meet on-campus every 1–2 weeks in Berkeley Way West and are otherwise free to work remotely
Related website: https://equislab.publichealth.berkeley.edu/
Social Sciences Biological & Health Sciences