Chenyi Ma

MSW, PhD

Assistant Professor

Bronze: 1 Insight

Penn School

Not Applicable

Department or Affiliation

Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy

machenyi@upenn.edu

Google Scholar Profile

My Climate Action Motivation

I am motivated by the disproportionate impacts of climate change on socially vulnerable populations. My research uses social and spatial epidemiology to examine climate vulnerability and its intersections with food and energy insecurity, housing instability, aging, health disparities, and disaster resilience to inform evidence-based policy.

My Collaboration Interests

Climate Adaptation, Resilience, and Social Vulnerability
Energy, Food, and Housing Insecurity
Disaster Risk Reduction and Community Resilience
Mental Health, Cardiovascular Health, and Climate Stress
Risk Analysis and Evidence-Based Policy

Chenyi Ma, MSW, PhD, is Assistant Professor at Kean University and a Research Affiliate at the University of Pennsylvania, where he previously served as a Research Assistant Professor. His interdisciplinary research integrates social and spatial epidemiological approaches to examine climate vulnerability, energy insecurity, housing instability, homelessness, aging, and health disparities among socially vulnerable populations.

His research examines how social, environmental, and policy factors shape vulnerability and adaptation to climate change and other environmental stressors. His work spans energy insecurity, utility disconnections, disaster preparedness and recovery, homelessness, and the social determinants of health, with recent studies focusing on maladaptive thermal coping and the role of social welfare policies in supporting healthier climate adaptation.

At Kean University, he teaches graduate courses in social work research methods, program evaluation, evidence-based practice, and disaster- and climate-related social welfare issues. His teaching emphasizes the application of research and data-driven approaches to addressing complex social and environmental challenges.

He collaborates with researchers, policymakers, and community partners to advance evidence-based approaches to climate resilience, sustainable development, and public policy. He also serves as a consultant on disaster risk reduction and resilience policy for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

His research has been published in journals including the American Journal of Public Health, Social Science & Medicine, Housing Studies, Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, and the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction. He received his PhD in Social Welfare from the University of Pennsylvania and completed an interdisciplinary postdoctoral fellowship in disaster vulnerability and resilience at Penn. Prior to his academic career, he worked in Education for Sustainable Development at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).