2026 CECE Faculty Research Incubator Grant: The Cross-Border Transmission of Climate Risk: U.S. Extreme Weather and Mexican Migration
We are excited to announce this year’s selected CECE Faculty Incubator proposal, titled “The Cross-Border Transmission of Climate Risk: U.S. Extreme Weather and Mexican Migration.” This interdisciplinary project represents a collaboration between scholars from the School of International Service (SIS) and the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), bringing together Drs. Tereza Varejkova and María Esther Caballero.
Climate change-exacerbated extreme events in the U.S. are becoming increasingly frequent (USGCRP, 2023). At the same time, the U.S. is a major destination for international migrants fleeing extreme weather in their origin countries. While there is ample literature on negative weather shocks at origin as a “push” factor encouraging out-migration, the evidence on the role of similar shocks in reducing the “pull” of destinations is limited. Furthermore, low-income and minority households are among the socially vulnerable groups who are most at risk (EPA, 2021). International migrants likely belong to both groups, thus being disproportionately impacted. Extreme weather in the U.S. may also harm a second vulnerable group: household members in migrant-sending communities who send migrants abroad as a strategy to cope with local shocks. This aspect of global climate justice, specifically the cross-border impacts of climate change, tends to be understudied (Carter et al., 2021). This project will address the following research question: Do extreme weather shocks in U.S. destinations reduce their pull for Mexican migrants? The team will examine how migration adjusts: do fewer migrants leave Mexico, do established migrants return to Mexico, or do they relocate elsewhere in the U.S.? It will also examine who responds: are responses stronger for counties where Mexican migrants work in weather-exposed occupations (construction, agriculture, or landscaping)?
About the Faculty Research Incubator Program: In 2023, CECE began this program, which is designed to launch exciting, interdisciplinary work on the environment that is conducted by faculty teams from programs across the AU campus. Teams receive funding to buy out courses or support summer salary. Within a year, teams are expected to have built out their projects, piloted the protocols, and submitted funding proposals for external funding.
