SDSU Imperial Valley Regional Resilience Center

The R² Center is the primary community collaborative research space for the SDSU Imperial Valley. Building on the foundation of the Regional Resilience Lab (R² Lab), the Center now serves as a central hub for advancing externally funded, community-partnered research. A core objective of the R² Center is to increase external grant funding and overall research capacity, supporting faculty in developing and implementing projects that address critical regional challenges. The Center promotes transdisciplinary collaboration among SDSU faculty, students, and Imperial County public organizations, producing both scholarly and public-facing research outputs that contribute to academic knowledge and community impact. Through these efforts, the Center strengthens SDSU Imperial Valley’s role as a leading site for applied, policy-relevant research.

Central to the R² Center’s mission is the development and sustainment of research-practice partnerships (RPPs) that connect academic research with community-based expertise. The Center functions as a collaborative space where faculty, students, and public agencies work together to co-produce knowledge and implement evidence-based solutions. These partnerships are designed to support evidence-based decision-making within partner agencies, ensuring that research findings are directly applicable to real-world challenges. By focusing on issues affecting historically under-resourced communities in the Imperial Valley, the Center aims to strengthen trust and engagement between the university and the region it serves.

The R² Center provides essential research infrastructure and dedicated space for faculty and students at SDSU Imperial Valley, addressing longstanding limitations in research facilities. Located at SDSU Imperial Valley, Calexico, the Center supports data analysis, secure research activities, and collaborative project development. It also serves as a hub for cross-campus engagement, hosting faculty, students, and research teams from the San Diego and Brawley campuses, thereby fostering greater integration across SDSU. This function enhances access to research opportunities, supports student involvement in applied research, and promotes sustained collaboration across disciplines and institutions. Through its combined role as a physical space and intellectual hub, the R² Center continues to expand research capacity and facilitate impactful, community-engaged scholarship.

Dr. David Z. Kanaan, Co-Director

Associate Professor of Public Administration
SDSU School of Public Affairs
Chair of the Division of Professional Studies, SDSU Imperial Valley
[email protected]

Research Interests: Public administration, community engagement, education equity, applied policy research

 
 
Dr. Jeffery R. Osborne, Co-Director

Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice
SDSU School of Public Affairs
Coordinator of the Graduate Program in Homeland Security, SDSU Imperial Valley
[email protected]  

Research Interests: Criminal justice, homeland security, policing, public safety, artificial intelligence

 
 
Dr. Huan Qin

Associate Professor of Mathematics and Statistics
SDSU Department of Mathematics and Statistics
SDSU Imperial Valley
[email protected]

Research Interests: Mathematics education, STEM support initiatives, quantitative analysis, program evaluation

Dr. Tingting Tang

Associate Professor of Mathematics and Statistics
SDSU Department of Mathematics and Statistics
SDSU Imperial Valley
[email protected] 

Research Interests: STEM education, mathematics instruction, student academic support

Dr. Miguel Zavala Perez  

Associate Professor of Environmental Health
SDSU School of Public Health
SDSU Imperial Valley
[email protected] 

Research Interests: Climate science, environmental modeling, heat stress, environmental justice

Dr. Eleni Gaveras

Assistant Professor of Social Work
SDSU School of Social Work
SDSU Imperial Valley
[email protected] 

Research Interests: Housing insecurity, LGBTQIA+ youth experiences, qualitative research methods

Andrew Alfaro 

Student Assistant
2026 SURP Participant with Dr. Jeffery Osborne
Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice & Bachelor of Arts in Public Administration, 2027

Erick Cortez

Student Assistant
Bachelor of Science, Electrical Engineering, 2030

R2 Center Faculty: Dr. Huan Qin (PI), Dr. Tingting Tang (PI), Dr. David Kanaan, Dr. Jeffery Osborne

Students Involved:  Keila Chen, Andrea Galindo, Alyssa Gonzales, Mariela Ponce, Felix Sanillanes, Cindy Varahona, Valeria Zuniga-Magallanes

Overview:
The Summer Math Academic Support Hub (SMASH) was developed to support undergraduate students in mathematics and STEM-related fields through workshops, mentorship, faculty engagement, and academic support activities. The initiative focused on helping students from historically underrepresented backgrounds transition into university life and strengthen academic success in STEM disciplines. The R² Center supported program evaluation activities, including surveys, focus groups, assessment schedules, and data analysis.

Funding: $199,996 — National Science Foundation (NSF) Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Grant

Program Outputs

• Student workshops and seminars
• Peer mentorship activities
• Program evaluation reports
• STEM support activities
• Faculty-led academic engagement

Research Areas

• STEM education
• educational equity
• program evaluation
• student success

R2 Center Faculty: Dr. Jeffery Osborne (PI), Dr. David Kanaan, Dr. Huan Qin

Students Involved: Frederico Molina

Overview:
The R² Center partnered with the Brawley Police Department (BPD) on a federally funded initiative addressing violent crime, juvenile delinquency, and fentanyl-related offenses in Imperial County. The project combines community engagement, youth programming, surveys, and crime data analysis to support evidence-based prevention strategies.

Funding: $300,000 — U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) (2023–2026)

Publications

• Osborne, J. R., & Kanaan, D. Z. (2024). Building regional resilience: Research-to-practice partnerships in a rural border area.
• Osborne, J. R. (2025). Educating for emerging threats: A model for integrating fentanyl and other contemporary issues into homeland security curricula.

Public-Facing Outputs

• Community safety survey
• Crime trend analysis
• Fentanyl awareness assessments
• Final presentation to Brawley PD and BJA officials

Media Coverage: 
SDSU Imperial Valley faculty launch the Regional Resilience (R2) Center

R2 Center Faculty: Dr. Miguel Zavala Perez

Students Involved: Brandon Toji

Overview:

Between 2023 and 2025, with funding from the University of California Office of the President (UCOP), Dr. Miguel Zavala Perez worked with researchers from across the region to study farmworker communities vulnerable to heat stress, especially in the hot Central and Imperial Valleys of California. Climate change and reduced water availability are projected to increase farmworker exposure to heat stress, and detailed mitigation and adaptation plans are explored. The Rural Heat Islands project’s objective is to map rural heat islands (RHIs) and assess their impact on farmworker communities to develop adaptation strategies that are critical to the success of California’s climate action and environmental justice. The computer system analyzing the data is housed in the R² Center.

Funding: $1,900.00 (researcher’s share of grant) — University of California Office of the President (UCOP)

Publications:

• Parajuli, S. P., Biggs, T., de Sales, F., Zavala Perez, M. A., He, C., Jones, C., … & Soucier, M. (2024). Impact of irrigation on farmworkers’ heat stress in California differs by season and during the day and night. Communications Earth & Environment, 5(1), 787.
• Thompson, C. F., Jones, C., Biggs, T., Quintana, P. J., Zavala Perez, M. A. Z., De Sales, F., … & McMahon, C. (2025). A Climatology of Summertime Wet-Bulb Globe Temperature in California’s Imperial Valley. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 64(7), 911-932.

Research Areas:

• Environmental resilience
• Climate adaptation
• Environmental justice
• Heat stress
• Farmworker health
• Environmental modeling
• Climate science

Program Outputs:

• Rural heat island mapping
• Environmental modeling and analysis
• Heat stress assessment
• Climate adaptation research
• Farmworker community impact studies

Related Links:

• https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01959-7
• https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-24-0199.1

R2 Center Faculty: Dr. David Kanaan (PI), Dr. Huan Qin, Dr. Jeffery Osborne

Students Involved: Valeria Cabrera

Overview:

This SDSU SEED Grant-funded research project investigates how structural and spatial inequities shape institutional outcomes in California public high schools using advanced quantitative methods, including structural equation modeling and panel data techniques. Drawing on statewide administrative data, the project examines relationships among student composition, school resources, and broader community conditions within California’s accountability framework. By situating school performance within its urban and regional context, the study assesses how multiple dimensions of inequality interact to influence institutional outcomes and informs more equitable interpretations of accountability metrics.

One manuscript from this project is currently under review, and a second study extending this work is in development for future submission.

Funding: $7,500.00 — SDSU Seed Grant Program

Publications: Kanaan, D. Z., Qin, H., & Osborne, J. R. (2026). Institutional performance in unequal urban contexts: Evidence from California public high schools. (Under Review).

Research Areas:

• Educational equity
• Education policy
• School performance
• Community engagement
• Quantitative analysis
• Structural equation modeling
• Panel data analysis
• Institutional outcomes

Program Outputs:

• Statewide educational data analysis
• Research manuscript under review
• Policy-relevant educational research
• Statistical modeling of educational inequities
• Community and institutional outcome assessment

R2 Center Faculty: Dr. Eleni Gaveras (PI)

Students Involved: Adriana Ramirez, Roxanne Romero, and Andrea Van Bebber

Collaborators: Dr. Harmony Rhoades Sexuality, Health, and Gender Center at Washington University in St. Louis School of Social Work and Dr. Lauren Fowler at the University of South Carolina School of Public Health.

Overview:

The study titled, “Navigating Experiences of Housing Stability & Transition among Young Adults” (NEhST), is using the R² Center to pilot a Zoom life history calendar. The pilot is an illustrative qualitative interview tool that uses Zoom whiteboards to map the journey toward housing security among LGBTQIA+ young adults from ages 18 to 25 who experienced housing insecurity in adolescence.

Dr. Gaveras and two research assistants utilize the center to conduct pilot Zoom interviews as part of the project’s data security plan. During the data collection, interviews are conducted using R² Center workstations to ensure the secure handling of participant information.

The project will coordinate research with researchers at other institutions and help identify technologies and resources needed to support future project expansion.

Funding: $7,500.00 — SDSU Seed Grant Program

Research Activities:

• Qualitative interviews
• Zoom life history calendars
• Housing stability analysis
• Community-informed qualitative research
• Data security and research infrastructure evaluation

Research Areas:

• Housing insecurity
• LGBTQIA+ youth experiences
• Qualitative research methods
• Housing stability
• Community-engaged research
• Social equity

Publications: Forthcoming. The project began in 2026.

Expected outputs include manuscript(s) for submission and a research poster presented at the third annual SDSU Student Symposium (S3).

Program Outputs:

• Pilot qualitative interviews
• Housing stability research
• Life history calendar methodology development
• Research poster development
• Future manuscript submissions

R2 Center Faculty: Dr. Jeffery Osborne (PI)

SDSU Personnel Involved: Dr. Lindsay Vance, Dr. Noël Bezette-Flores, Stacy Bodus, Jonathan Ramirez, Luis Perez

Overview:

This interdisciplinary, cross-unit research initiative focuses on developing and implementing an Inclusive artificial intelligence (AI) Toolkit to support equitable and accessible learning in synchronous online classroom environments.

The project brings together faculty, instructional designers, accessibility specialists, and information technology professionals to examine how AI-enabled tools, such as real-time captioning, translation, and automated summaries, can be integrated into teaching practices to reduce barriers for diverse student populations.

Grounded in Universal Design for Learning (UDL), Anticipatory Design, and Activity Theory, the project emphasizes proactive instructional design paired with responsible AI adoption.

The current exploration phase uses surveys, classroom observations, and instructor debriefings to assess how instructors and students interact with AI-enabled tools in live online settings.

Research Activities:

• Instructor and student surveys
• Classroom observations
• Instructor debriefings
• AI-enabled teaching tool evaluation
• Accessibility and instructional design assessment

Funding: Not specified at this time.

Research Areas:

• AI
• Online Learning
• Accessibility
• Instructional Design
• Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
• Educational Technology
• Inclusive Education

Research Outputs:

• Inclusive AI toolkit development
• Accessibility-focused instructional resources
• Classroom implementation strategies
• Cross-unit collaboration and evaluation
• Future AI-supported learning recommendations

Publications:

Forthcoming. A manuscript is currently being revised for submission. Subsequent phases of the initiative are scheduled for Fall 2026.

R2 Center Faculty: Dr. Jeffery Osborne (PI)

Students Involved: Andrew Alfaro

Overview:
This research focuses on artificial intelligence (AI) by examining how it is used and discussed in real-world criminal justice settings, including policing, investigations, and corrections, with the goal of understanding its impact on the field and future workforce.
The project engages an undergraduate researcher in a mixed-methods study involving content analysis, secondary data analysis, and limited primary data collection. Research focuses on publicly available sources such as agency policies, reports, media coverage, case examples, and opinion-based data regarding AI use in criminal justice practice.

Through guided training, structured feedback, and ongoing mentorship, the student researcher develops skills in qualitative and quantitative analysis, data interpretation, and professional communication while serving as an SDSU Regional Resilience (R²) Center student researcher.

Research Activities:

• Content analysis
• Secondary data analysis
• Policy review
• AI perception research
• Criminal justice technology assessment
• Mixed-methods research

Funding: $7,200.00 — SDSU Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activities (RSCA) Program (SURP).

Research Areas:

• Artificial Intelligence
• Criminal Justice
• Policing
• Investigations
• Corrections
• Technology Policy
• Workforce Development
• Mixed-Methods Research

Publications: Forthcoming. The project began in 2026. Expected outputs include a manuscript for submission to a peer-reviewed journal and a research poster presented at the third annual SDSU Student Symposium (S3).

Program Outputs:

• Undergraduate research experience
• Research poster presentation
• Professional research development
• Manuscript preparation
• AI and criminal justice analysis

Related Links:
No public publication links available at this time (project began in 2026).