She is also Associate Director of the Center for Sustainable Suburban Development, and Chair of the department of Gender and Sexuality Studies at UC Riverside. Her research and teaching interests emphasize political economy, environmental politics and policy, and community-based social change, especially as it relates to the gender dimensions of conflict resolution and environmental sustainability. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the California Energy Commission, the California Department of Transportation, the Energy Foundation and the Haynes Foundation. Ellen Esch