Ms. Irving is a Senior Research Associate specializing in environmental health and community engagement. Her work focuses on advancing environmental quality, resilience, and public health through data-driven research and community-centered approaches. She supports HARC’s community resilience, sustainability, and water research by contributing to projects such as the HyVelocity Hydrogen Hub, EPA Community Change initiatives, and projects that support HARC’s work with the Galveston Bay Estuary Program.
Ms. Irving brings a diverse background in environmental science and public health to HARC, with expertise in community engagement, community-based participatory research, qualitative research methods, and spatial analysis. Her work integrates both quantitative and qualitative approaches to address environmental and health-related challenges.
Before joining HARC, Ms. Irving was a Science Policy Fellow through the National Academy of Sciences Gulf Research Program, where she contributed to projects at the intersection of environmental science, public health, and policy. She also worked as the Research Translation Coordinator for the Louisiana State University (LSU) Superfund Research Program, engaging communities and stakeholders impacted by hazardous waste facilities. Ms. Irving began her career in water resource management before shifting her focus to include human health.
Ms. Irving earned a Master of Public Health from LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, and a Bachelor of Arts with triple majors in Biology, Geology, and Public Policy from Washington and Lee University. She is currently a PhD candidate in Environmental Sciences at LSU. Her dissertation research focuses on developing a deeper understanding of how cumulative environmental exposures at the community level adversely affect human health.
Authored Publications and Related Projects
Odera M., Kelley, B., Rivers, L., Wilson, A., Tran, J., Patel, K., Valle, B., Subra, W., Cramer, J., Irving, J., Reams, M., Richmond-Bryant, J. (2023). A community-engaged oral history study as a tool for understanding environmental justice aspects of human exposures to hazardous waste thermal treatment emission in Colfax, LA. Environmental Justice.
Richmond-Bryant, J., Odera, M., Subra, W., Vallee, B., Tucker, C., Oliver, C., Wilson, A., Tran, J., Kelley, B., Cramer, J., Irving, J., Guo, C., and Reams, M. (2022). A community-integrated geographic information system study of air pollution exposure impacts in Colfax, LA. Local Environment, 27(6), pp 728-746.
Reams, M. and Irving, J. (2019) Applying community resilience theory to engagement with residents facing cumulative environmental exposure risks: Lessons from Louisiana’s industrial corridor. Reviews on Environmental Health, 34(3), pp 235-244.
