Welcome, Khushi!

Khushi Desai is a junior at the University of Maryland College Park and a project assistant with UMCES and MDEM. They are pursuing a bachelor’s degree in environmental science and policy and a minor in geographic information systems, with plans to complete a PhD within the emergency management field. They are co-president of 17 for Peace and Justice, a student-organization dedicated to advancing environmental justice at university, community, and state levels. They have completed internships at the University of Maryland’s Environmental Finance Center, contributing towards community-engagement, climate resilience, and policy research projects. They have recently been awarded the Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship from NOAA, giving them an opportunity to complete an internship focused on policy issues in coastal regions of the U.S. during Summer 2027. As a project assistant with UMCES and MDEM, Khushi will work on completing research on natural hazards to inform work on resilience baseline implementation, as well as creating a database to compile information on resilience funding sources in the state of MD.