“I have always been interested in how science interacts with society. That’s part of why I chose to study environmental science and engineering, as well as the history and philosophy of science. It’s a mouthful when I try to say my majors! Environmental social science turned out to be where those two interests meet. It gives me a way to study how environmental problems and policies affect people.
Last fall, I heard [Caltech faculty member] Hannah Druckenmiller present her research that uses machine learning to study how environmental policies affect which waterways are protected. I reached out after her talk, and I joined her project on how homebuyers view flood-resistant homes.
Raising a house off the ground is one way to protect it from floods, but it comes with trade-offs. An elevated home can look different, and you must climb stairs to reach the front door. My project asked whether buyers care more about the flood protection or about those downsides. In a survey experiment, participants compared hypothetical listings for elevated and nonelevated homes, which included each home’s flood zone and flood insurance cost. Then they chose the home they preferred and explained why. Our analysis is not yet complete, but understanding how people weigh these trade-offs is important for climate adaptation because it only works if people are willing to adopt it.”
Emily Yu is a senior at Caltech who is double majoring in environmental science and engineering and in the history and philosophy of science. She did a 2026 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship project with Hannah Druckenmiller, assistant professor of economics and a William H. Hurt Scholar.
#SoCaltech is an occasional series celebrating the diverse individuals who give Caltech its spirit of excellence, ambition, and ingenuity. Know someone we should profile? Send nominations to magazine@caltech.edu.