Energy and Environmental Justice Workshop at UT

The Energy and Environmental Justice Workshop aims to develop a network of researchers, policymakers, and community partners to develop responses to challenges facing reliable, sustainable, and equitable access to energy, transportation, communications, health, and ecosystem service infrastructures. We are working to understand different communities' challenges including Appalachian areas, identify the most critical ways that future research can help communities prepare for and manage these challenges, and propose a large-scale research network to perform that research. This workshop welcomes interest from interdisciplinary researchers and representatives of state and local governments, community and civic organizations, and the business sector.

The workshop will feature panel discussions and breakout groups to facilitate interdisciplinary discussions of the challenges facing urban and rural communities, emphasizing how energy, transportation, telecommunications, healthcare, and ecosystems infrastructure operate as coupled systems that involve both technologies and human actions.

Participants are invited to submit an abstract of about 300 words describing their interests in these questions as researchers, planners, practitioners, or representatives of community interests and their thoughts on how a research network should collaborate in understanding and responding to the challenges of providing reliable infrastructure for the 21^st century. Abstracts may address the following questions or others that you deem essential:

• Critical needs and current challenges in energy, transportation, and telecommunication.
• Solutions for connecting rural and urban sustainability and policy development
• Social justice in household energy, transportation, and environmental health
• Approaches to effectively connecting community-based organizations, stakeholders, and research networks