Caitlin Saladino (The Lincy Institute & Brookings Mountain West), Marya Shegog (Public Health/Lincy Institute), Magdalena Martinez (Public Policy and Leadership/Lincy Institute), Jaewon Lim, and Kelliann Beavers (both Public Policy and Leadership) were each selected to present their respective research projects at the 2019 Urban Affairs Association annual conference in April, held in Los Angeles. Their papers represented the 2019 conference theme of "Claiming Rights to the City: Community, Capital, and the State," and covered a variety of public policy issues critical to Southern Nevada and the greater mountain west region (e.g. higher education, representative governance, health disparities, economic development, and transportation infrastructure). UAA is the premier international professional organization for urban scholars, researchers, and public service professionals, and is dedicated to creating interdisciplinary spaces for engaging in intellectual and practical discussions about urban life.