UCLA School of Law professor James Salzman has been honored with an invitation to join the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center’s 2027 Residency Program, one of the world’s most esteemed and highly selective projects for confronting complex challenges in science, law, government, the arts, and more.

The agricultural industry in California and other states relies heavily upon chemical pesticides for a range of high-value crops to control pests, such as insects, weeds, and other problems. Many of these pesticides contain toxic active ingredients which evaporate into the air, seep into the soil and groundwater, or remain as residue on crops. In California, this usage is pervasive; in 2022 more than 160 million pounds of pesticide active ingredients were applied to land in California for agricultural purposes.

The California coastline is known for its natural beauty, recreation opportunities, world-class developments and — increasingly — conflict. In many places up and down the state, continued development at the coast contravenes both the letter and the intent of the California Coastal Act, but local communities remain deeply divided about how to plan for the growing impacts of sea level rise.

California’s gas distribution network is becoming increasingly expensive to maintain. At the same time, the state has explicitly signaled its desire to move away from natural gas in favor of electrification. To further public policy goals and achieve an equitable energy transition, mechanisms to redirect funding from gas infrastructure repairs to electrification investments should be explored.