Conversations After the Fires
You're invited to this special online series for the Caltech community and the public.
When the 2025 Los Angeles fires broke out, Caltech researchers on campus and at JPL, which Caltech manages for NASA, jumped into action, collecting and analyzing data as soon as flames erupted. In the webinar series Conversations After the Fires, you will hear about fire-related research as it is happening and have the chance to ask your own questions.
Upcoming Webinars
Air Quality and Health
MAY 2, 2025, 11 a.m. PT
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In this live, moderated discussion, learn more about how scientists at Caltech and other institutions are studying air quality in the aftermath of the LA fires, what they have learned so far, and the implications for our health.
Join Caltech graduate student Haroula Baliaka, Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist Sina Hasheminassab, and guests Lea Hildebrandt Ruiz (BS '06), associate professor of chemical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, and Rima Habre, associate professor of population and public health sciences and spatial sciences at USC, in a discussion about their ongoing research to monitor and publicize data about air pollution post-fires. The conversation will be moderated by Caltech science writer Lori Dajose (BS '15).
Haroula Baliaka, Graduate Student
Haroula Baliaka is a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in Environmental Science and Engineering at Caltech, working with Professors Paul Wennberg, John Seinfeld, and Rick Flagan. Her research broadly focuses on studying the mysteries behind the elevated particulate levels in Los Angeles, despite decades of air quality regulations. Baliaka is also the student lead for ASCENT, a national monitoring network that measures air pollutants in real time, and PHOENIX, an air quality monitoring network deployed in and around the burned areas of Altadena following the recent Eaton Canyon fire. She holds a Dipl. Ing. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Patras, Greece.
Rima Habre, Associate Professor of Environmental Health and Spatial Sciences at USC
Rima Habre is an Associate Professor of Environmental Health and Spatial Sciences at the University of Southern California (USC). Her work is part of the LA Fire HEALTH Study. Her research aims to understand the effects of complex air pollution mixtures and climate-related exposures on the health of vulnerable populations. She leads the CLIMA (CLIMAte-Related Exposures, Adaptation and Health Equity) Center at USC and co-leads the NEXUS (Network for Exposomics in the U.S.) Center, which aims to advance precision environmental health. Habre received an Sc.D. in environmental health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Lea Hildebrandt Ruiz, Associate Professor at University of Texas at Austin
Lea Hildebrandt Ruiz (BS '06) is an Associate Professor at University of Texas at Austin. She studies the formation, transformation, and atmospheric fate of harmful air pollution that kills more than 7 million people per year worldwide. Her laboratory uses state-of-the-science instrumentation in indoor and outdoor environments, as well as mathematical modeling to make better-informed recommendations for environmental policies aimed at improving air quality and human health. Her recent work is part of the LA Fire HEALTH Study.
Sina Hasheminassab, Research Scientist at NASA JPL
Sina Hasheminassab is an air quality scientist at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). His research focuses on integrating advanced monitoring techniques with data-driven methodologies to study air pollution sources, trends, and their societal impacts. He is a co-investigator on NASA's Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols (MAIA) satellite mission, where he leads its ground-based air quality monitoring subsystem. Hasheminassab holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Southern California.
Lori Dajose, Content and Media Strategist
Lori Dajose is a content strategist and science writer in Caltech's Office of Strategic Communications covering biology, bioengineering, and neuroscience. Lori received her undergraduate degree in planetary science from Caltech in 2015 and began working in the Office of Communications and External Relations shortly afterward.
Past Webinars
Studying Lead in the Environment
APRIL 10, 2025, 11 a.m. PT
►EVENT RECAP
In the first conversation in this series, learn more about what ash, soil, and water samples tell us about the amount of lead released in the environment during the fires. Join Caltech geochemist Francois Tissot, graduate students Merritt McDowell and Isaac Aguilar, and guest speaker Christine O'Connell, assistant professor of Biological Sciences at Chapman University, in a discussion about their ongoing research to address the environmental impact of urban fires, moderated by Caltech science writer Lori Dajose.
View the recording of a related webinar, Environmental Impacts of Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface, from January 31, 2025.
This series is presented by the Caltech Science Exchange, which brings expert insight to the scientific questions that define our time. The Caltech Science Exchange offers trustworthy answers, clear explanations, and fact-driven conversation on critical topics in science and technology.