Do you know any astronomers in the Southern California region that I could interview for a school project?

That's a tall order. There are a lot of major institutions in southern California. It depends on exactly where you live. Here are the phone numbers of a few places you might try:

University of California, Irvine....................714-725-2174  Physics
University of California, Los Angeles...............310-206-2096  Astronomy
University of California, Santa Barbara.............805-893-4111  Physics
California Institute of Technology..................818-356-4169  Astronomy
                                                    818-356-4241
Jet Propulsion Laboratory...........................818-354-4321