Marcos Magaña, a first-generation college student from the Eastern Coachella Valley, is a Ph.D. student in Environment & Sustainability at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. His research explores the lived experiences of marginalized communities in desert regions, reframing heat not as a purely quantitative metric but as a phenomenon shaped by social, cultural, and historical contexts. His work also challenges dominant narratives of deserts as barren landscapes, instead highlighting them as places rich with life, knowledge, and resilience.
Raised in the Eastern Coachella Valley—a community facing intersecting environmental risks such as rising temperatures, toxic air from nearby agricultural fields, and pollution from the Salton Sea—Marcos found in science a powerful lens to understand these issues and ask deeper questions about their systemic roots. He is particularly passionate about co-producing knowledge with communities to ensure research reflects their realities and leads to holistic, meaningful solutions.
Outside of research, he enjoys traveling and playing sports.