That’s how Christopher Ihinegbu views his Switzer Foundation Fellowship
Many graduate students who receive fellowships view the prestigious awards as confirmation of the worthiness of their research focus or well-timed influxes of funds as they race to complete their dissertations.
Christopher Ihinegbu sees his 2026 Switzer Foundation Fellowship as “a call to action.”
The research focus of the doctoral student in the Department of Urban Planning and Public Policy (UPPP) is disaster risk management, specifically multi-hazard resilience, cascading resilience, environmental justice, and climate-action planning. Thematically, Ihinegbu studies floods and wildfires, and the Nigerian’s geographies of interest are West Africa and the United States.
The one-year Switzer Fellowship is for graduate students from diverse academic and personal backgrounds in the U.S. and its territories with career goals focused on environmental improvement.
“Switzer Fellows demonstrate leadership in their field, as well as commitment and competency to advance social equity as a fundamental part of their environmental problem-solving,” states the foundation that Robert and Patricia Switzer established in 1986 after the sale of their Day-Glo Color Corporation. The Switzer Foundation’s mission is to support leaders who are dedicated to solving applied environmental problems.
According to a search of the Switzer Fellows Directory, Ihinegbu is the fifth recipient from UC Irvine since the foundation’s establishment.
“Receiving this fellowship feels surreal,” he confides. “It is one of the very few high points in my career as an early-career environmental professional. This recognition is a call to action: to center social equity in environmental improvement and to amplify the practical implications of my work.”
Not that Ihinegbu is a stranger to earning prestigious honors. He is currently a UC Irvine CLIMATE Justice Initiative fellow, was awarded a UCI Faculty Mentor Fellowship for the 2025-2026 academic year and was part of the 2024 cohort of William Averette Anderson Fund fellows (a.k.a. Bill Anderson Fund Fellows), which is a charitable organization that mitigates disasters through fellowship, mentorship and research with disaster-affected communities.
More recently, he was the recipient of UPPP’s 2026 Outstanding Research Award.
Ihinegbu is appreciative of the various recognitions (and accompanying funding), but what has him most excited is the opportunity to continue his important research as he seeks to earn his doctorate in 2028.
“As a CLIMATE Justice Fellow, my work integrates local epistemologies and community science into air quality monitoring in disadvantaged communities, facilitating convergence science that incorporates an environmental justice lens,” he says. “My Ph.D. research on cascading resilience chart leverage points for socially vulnerable and disaster-burdened communities to prepare and recover from multi-hazards.”
— Matt Coker