Our academic partnerships have made it possible to take local action on the SDGs in L.A. They have been a force multiplier for that progress, and an opportunity to introduce the City’s work to undergraduate and graduate students from various universities. Through these partnerships, student’s findings have and will continue to help the City in implementing policies inclusive of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The project teams play a key role in assisting the City to identify gaps in aligning plans and practices while highlighting cross-cutting issue areas for mobilizing multi-stakeholder partnerships. Over 100 undergraduate and graduate students have been engaged in the SDG localization efforts in Los Angeles to date.
2021 Interns
The 2021 Interns support the writing and publication of L.A.'s second Voluntary Local Review and updates to the City's SDG Data Reporting Platform.

CAROLINE DIAMOND
Occidental College

ALEJO MAGGINI
Occidental College

JONATHAN FANG
Occidental College

EMILY GARDNER
UCLA

RACHEL SEIBERG
UCLA

LILY LAUGHARN
Stanford University

MORGAN LEE
UCLA
2020 Cohort
The Summer 2020 SDG Project Team brought together a cohort of 54 students from Occidental College, Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University, University of California Los Angeles, University of Southern California, and Pomona College. The summer student cohort sought to produce a series of deliverables demonstrating how the SDGs can be mobilized in city government through nine different projects.
Project Team 1 - LGBTQIA+ Data Inclusivity

ALEJO MAGGINI
Occidental College

ALISON SCHULTE
University of Southern California

JOHN HENRY HAMMER
Occidental College

KUSH SHANKER
University of Southern California

NILOOFAR SEDIGH SARVESTANI
Arizona State University

LE NHI TRINH
University of Southern California
Project Team 2 - Student Housing Insecurity and Educational Outcomes

CAROLINE DIAMOND
Occidental College

JACK FERNANDES
Occidental College

JOSEPHINE GARDNER
University of Southern California

KYLER PARRIS
Occidental College

MICAH KIRSCHER
Occidental College

WAFA ABEDIN
Occidental College
Project Team 3 - SDG Activities Index and Community Storytelling

ABBEY MARTICHENKO
University of Southern California

ALEXIS PATTON
University of Southern California

PRACHI KALE
University of Southern California

SYDNEY SCUDDER
Arizona State University

TANISHA SHETTY
Arizona State University

ZACHARY GOODWIN
Occidental College
Project Team 4 - Biodiversity in Los Angeles

AUSTIN BERRY
Arizona State University

HOPE HENDRY
Occidental College

JACKSON CAUDLE
Occidental College

MAGGIE SMART-MCCABE
Occidental College

MCCLARAN SHIRLEY
Occidental College

SNIGDHA SUVARNA
Occidental College

TYLER BRANUM
Arizona State University

ZOË NAVAPANICH
University of Southern California
Project Team 5 - Housing Insecurity Journey Map

DEVON RIZER
Arizona State University

HARRISON JAMES MAXWELL
Arizona State University

JANIE MARCUS
Pomona College

MAKENNA FLYNN
Arizona State University

MARGARET WORRALL
Arizona State University

MAYOWA AKINTEWE
Arizona State University

REED HOLLAND
Arizona State University
Project Team 6 - Equitable Street Asset Investments

ANDREW LEUNG
University of Southern California

DAUD JOSEPH
Arizona State University

JOAN LEE
University of Southern California

NAN NI
University of Southern California
Project Team 7 - Healthy Indoor Environments

JULIA EUBANKS
Occidental College

MICHAEL NAJARIAN
UCLA

NANCY LINGHUI ZHOU
Occidental College

OLIVIA VORSTER
Occidental College

VIRGINIA PASCHAL
Pomona College

ERIC KYLE MILLER
Arizona State University

JAROD MAJEIKA
University of Southern California
Project Team 9 - Community Development Block Grants

BRILLARCH AMANTE M DAYAG II
Arizona State University

DILAY AKCORA
University of Southern California

ELLORY LONGDON
University of Southern California

HAMSINI BALAJI
University of Southern California

PENGYU JI
University of Southern California

SARAH ENG
University of Southern California

STEPHANIE OYOLU
Occidental College
Project Team 13 - Veterans Success

LOLA FISHER
University of Chicago

SETH BAE
Brown University

SIMONE FLOURNOY
University of Saint Andrews
2020 Interns

JOSEPH WALDOW
Occidental College

FATIME URUCI
University of Southern California, Annenberg School
2019 Interns
Our team of 2019 SDG Interns was instrumental in furthering the work of the Summer 2018 Cohort. Through their efforts, the City of L.A. can now map City programs, policies, and initiatives from the Office of Mayor Garcetti and various City Departments to the SDG goals. The interns also played a strategic role in the development of the City's first VLR, the SDG website and data reporting platform.

ANDRÉS WILLIAMSON
University of Southern California

ALBAN MARTINEZ
Los Angeles Pierce College

XENEB SHAH
UCLA

LINDA MEJIA
University of Connecticut

RON HUANG
Santa Clara University

AMANDA CLAIRE ELLIOT
UCLA

CAITLYN MANAHAN
Bucknell University

PASCAL JAKOWEC
University of Southern California

RENATA FERNÁNDEZ GOMEZ SAINZ
University of San Diego

YULLY PURWONO
Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University
2018 Cohort
The Summer 2018 SDG Project Team brought together a cohort of 18 interns from Occidental College, Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University, University of California Los Angeles, and the University of Southern California. The summer student cohort sought to produce a series of deliverables demonstrating how the SDG framework could inform implementation of the City’s sustainability and resiliency initiatives. The Summer 2018 SDG Cohort provided multi-sector findings, along with recommendations on revised targets for L.A., and a focused look at SDG 13 and climate change.

CHIDIRE EZEH
Occidental College

HAIYI ZHAO
Occidental College

STEPHANIE KELLOGG
Luskin School of Public Affairs at University of California Los Angeles

TYSON WILLIAMS
Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University

SNIGDHA SUVARNA
Occidental College

NIKITHA GOPAL
UCLA Master of Public Policy

MADIT D. RING YEL
Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University

JULIAH LEE
Occidental College

IRENE KINYANGULI
Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University

ZACHARY SOLOMON
Occidental College

OLIVIA MULERWA
Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University

GAEA MORALES
Occidental College

ALEJANDRA MOLINA
Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University

MARISSA AYALA
UCLA Luskin School Public Affairs; Master of Public Policy

KRISTOPHER ECLARINO
UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs; Master of Public Policy (2019)

DANIELLE LEDEZMA
Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University

MARIANA ZIMMERMANN
UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, Master of Urban and Regional Planning

ALIYA WHITE
Project Consultant Mayor’s Office of International Affairs – City of Los Angeles

APRIL YANG
University of Southern California