Her recent work is on interdisciplinary problems of social and environmental inequity brought about by rapid urbanization in the Phoenix, AZ, metropolitan region. She is the principal investigator of a project examining urban vulnerability to climate change as a dynamic feature of coupled natural and human systems that differentially place landscapes and people at risk from extreme heat. This four-year study continues her collaborative, interdisciplinary research on spatial variation in the urban heat island and the implications of climate change for heat-related health inequalities in urban neighborhoods. She also directs the Phoenix Area Social Survey, which examines people's values, attitudes, and behaviors concerning the local environment and the impact of income and ethnic residential segregation on social and physical environmental inequalities.