Through a course on ethics and environmental policy, Rentz learned how to connect with community members who were most likely to be impacted by climate change — and how to conduct research that could directly benefit them. Rentz began to look for ways to combine her research on extreme heat with ethical community engagement. After receiving a National Science Foundation fellowship, Rentz chose to enroll in the Ph.D. program in Earth Systems and Climate Science at Arizona State University, where she plans to research the local impacts of extreme heat on vulnerable populations — and help communities adapt to the “new normal” of extreme heat.