Miriam Zuk has advanced environmental and housing justice through research and policy for more than twenty years. She co-founded the Urban Displacement Project, a research and action lab at the University of California, Berkeley, and is widely published on gentrification, displacement, and equitable, sustainable development.

Miriam’s upbringing as a first-generation American and the grandchild of Holocaust survivors instilled in her a deep respect for difference and a lifelong commitment to fighting injustice. Before becoming an urban planner, she worked on improving air quality in urban environments and served as Deputy Director of Air Quality Research for the Mexican Ministry of Environment in the early 2000s.

She holds a PhD in Urban Planning from the University of California, Berkeley, an MS in Technology and Policy from MIT, and a BA in Environmental Science from Barnard College. Her superpower is curiosity, and she often falls in love with places by first getting to know the people.