Julie Sze

Julie Sze is a Professor of American Studies at the University of California, Davis, where she is also the founding director of the Environmental Justice Project within the John Muir Institute for the Environment. Her work bridges environmental studies, urban studies, and ethnic studies, with a focus on environmental justice, inequality, race, gender, and urban health.

• University: University of California, Davis
• School: College of Letters and Science
• Department: Department of American Studies
• Position: Professor

Her research explores the intersections of culture, environment, and power, particularly in urban contexts across New York, California, and Shanghai. She employs interdisciplinary methods, collaborating with scientists, engineers, social scientists, humanists, and community organizers to address environmental inequalities and policy impacts.

Professor Sze’s publications include three influential books: Noxious New York (2007), Fantasy Islands (2015), and Environmental Justice in a Moment of Danger (2020), along with an edited volume on sustainability and over 70 scholarly articles. Her recent work emphasizes climate justice, public scholarship, and the role of humanities in shaping equitable environmental futures.

The trends in her publications reflect a consistent commitment to political ecology, urban environmental health, and grassroots activism, with increasing attention to transnational perspectives, climate crisis narratives, and the democratization of environmental knowledge. Her research has influenced public policy in California and has been supported by major grants from the Ford Foundation, UC Humanities Institute, and AAUW.

She is a sought-after speaker, having delivered keynotes in Germany, China, Italy, France, Canada, and Japan, and presented at over 80 U.S. universities. Her public engagement extends to institutions like the SF MOMA, New York Academy of Medicine, and the Asia Society.

• Deep commitment to public scholarship
• Active mentor for first-generation and low-income students
• 20+ year involvement with the UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program
• Grants from Ford Foundation, UC Humanities Institute, American Studies Association, AAUW

As founding director of the Environmental Justice Project, she has built collaborative networks across disciplines and communities, fostering research that is both academically rigorous and socially transformative.