Ricardo Cisneros

Ricardo Cisneros is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Public Health at the University of California Merced, affiliated with the Public Health department in the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts. He received a PhD in Environmental Systems (2008) and an MPH (2004) from UC Merced and California State University, Fresno (2000), respectively.

Research Interests: His work focuses on the interdependence of ecological and human health, particularly air pollution effects on public health, GIS applications in exposure assessment, environmental epidemiology, forest fire impacts on air quality, and PM2.5 background levels in mountain communities. Recent projects examine California megafires, public perceptions of air quality, and asthma-diet-pollution interactions.

Publication Trends: His articles address wildfire smoke dispersion, PM2.5 monitoring, ozone distribution in remote ecosystems, and environmental health policy. Key themes include air pollution modeling, GIS-based exposure assessment, and health impacts of climate-driven wildfires.

Teaching: He instructs undergraduate courses in Environmental Health (PH 110), GIS and Public Health (PH 115), and Introduction to Public Health (PH 001), as well as the graduate course Environmental Health (PH 204).

Graduate Advisees: David Veloz, Emanuel Alcala, and Hamed Gharibi.