Naomi Adams

Naomi Adams is a PhD candidate in Environment and Sustainability at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where they draw upon their interdisciplinary training to advance community participatory and partnered research in environmental justice. Their scholarship examines the social, political, and ecological dynamics of soil contamination and repair in urban contexts, with particular attention to community-led agricultural initiatives. Grounded in Black, Indigenous, and Feminist ecological and geographic thought, their work documents unconventional and creative strategies of environmental stewardship, centering grassroots movements that promote sustainability, land sovereignty, and care-based soil remediation practices in cities such as Los Angeles and Chicago. Across their research and practice, Naomi is particularly interested in developing and applying liberatory frameworks that support community self-determination in the wake of systemic neglect and environmental dispossession.

Naomi earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Howard University in 2018 and an M.S. in Environmental Engineering from UCLA in 2020. At UCLA, they are a Cota-Robles Fellow, a CDLS Early-Career Fellow, and a National Science Foundation Trainee in the Innovations in Food, Energy, and Water Systems program. Their research and community engagement have been further supported by the 2024–2025 Black Feminist Initiative, Mariame Kaba Graduate Fellowship awarded by UCLA’s Center for the Study of Women | Streisand Center.

Beyond the university, Naomi serves as an Urban Ecology Global Fellow with the Sweet Water Foundation in Chicago, Illinois, and has collaborated with the National Black Food and Justice Alliance. They are also a Board Member of the South Los Angeles Food Co-op, contributing to community-based food sovereignty initiatives. Through both scholarly and civic engagement, Naomi’s work recognizes and builds upon the technical, ecological, and place-based expertise held within communities, positioning academic research as accountable to and in partnership with the knowledge systems that sustain collective care and environmental justice.