Seminar Announcement — DEI in CEE — Scott Brandenberg, UCLA

Seminar Announcement – DEI in CEE – Scott Brandenberg

Scott Brandenberg 
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Initiatives at Public Universities

Scott J. Brandenberg, Ph.D.
Professor UCLA
March 30 – 5:00pm EST

https://gatech.zoom.us/j/98437378041?pwd=bk1oaE0wTXB2azNIRm01Mkc3cHlodz09

ABSTRACT

This presentation will discuss equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) training initiatives, including findings of what types of training has worked well, and what has not worked so well. Universities are at the forefront of EDI training, and public Universities in particular face challenges balancing the goals to diversify the student body, faculty, and staff with affirmative action laws (which vary State-to-State). The Samueli School of Engineering at UCLA has implemented an EDI initiative titled Awareness to Action that is an interactive multimedia two-part workshop. The first workshop focuses on gender and the second on race, and covers topics such as implicit bias, in-group/out-group dynamics, and engineering impacts arising from lack of diversity. The program has been delivered to about 400 students, and preliminary post-workshop assessment data indicates that the program has resulted in several positive outcomes with respect to students’ behaviors.

BIOGRAPHY

 

DEI Seminar Recording: Evidence of gender inequality in energy use from a mixed-methods study in India

Seminar Announcement – DEI in CEE – Paulina Jaramillo (1)Paulina Jaramillo

Evidence of gender inequality in energy use from a mixed-methods study in India

Paulina Jaramillo, Ph.D.

Professor
Carnegie Mellon University
VIEW RECORDING HERE

ABSTRACT

Prior studies suggest that women particularly stand to benefit from increased electricity access. Yet, few have empirically tested this implicit linkage between energy access (SDG 7) and gender equality (SDG 5). More specifically, few explore how female household members use electricity once it is made accessible. Using India as an illustrative case, we conduct a mixed methods study. We first inductively assess household appliance use by gender in Gujarat (n = 31). We then assess the generalizability of the use patterns identified through a representative six-state household survey (Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, n = 8,563). In including use, we find that women are neither the sole nor primary beneficiaries of electricity access, even when appliances that would particularly benefit them are affordable. While energy access could improve gender equity, our study highlights intra-household power dynamics as an important boundary condition on realizing more equitable energy access.

BIOGRAPHY

Paulina Jaramillo is currently a professor of engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). Jaramillo’s past research focused on life cycle assessment of energy systems with an emphasis on climate change impacts and mitigation research. As a professor at CMU, she is currently involved in multi-disciplinary research projects to better understand the social, economic, and environmental implications of policy-driven changes in the operations of the energy system. Over the past five years, her research and education efforts have expanded to include issues related to energy access and development in the Global South. She has also worked to incorporate values and beliefs in energy planning in historically disenfranchised communities and to understand the implications of energy access in gender equity.

DEI in CEE — Paulina Jaramillo, Carnegie Mellon University (WED. 2/23/22 @ 5:00pm on BlueJeans)

Seminar Announcement – DEI in CEE – Paulina Jaramillo (1)Paulina Jaramillo

Evidence of gender inequality in energy use from a mixed-methods study in India

Paulina Jaramillo, Ph.D.

Professor
Carnegie Mellon University
February 23 – 5:00pm EST
https://bluejeans.com/508536587/2079

ABSTRACT

Prior studies suggest that women particularly stand to benefit from increased electricity access. Yet, few have empirically tested this implicit linkage between energy access (SDG 7) and gender equality (SDG 5). More specifically, few explore how female household members use electricity once it is made accessible. Using India as an illustrative case, we conduct a mixed methods study. We first inductively assess household appliance use by gender in Gujarat (n = 31). We then assess the generalizability of the use patterns identified through a representative six-state household survey (Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, n = 8,563). In including use, we find that women are neither the sole nor primary beneficiaries of electricity access, even when appliances that would particularly benefit them are affordable. While energy access could improve gender equity, our study highlights intra-household power dynamics as an important boundary condition on realizing more equitable energy access.

BIOGRAPHY

Paulina Jaramillo is currently a professor of engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). Jaramillo’s past research focused on life cycle assessment of energy systems with an emphasis on climate change impacts and mitigation research. As a professor at CMU, she is currently involved in multi-disciplinary research projects to better understand the social, economic, and environmental implications of policy-driven changes in the operations of the energy system. Over the past five years, her research and education efforts have expanded to include issues related to energy access and development in the Global South. She has also worked to incorporate values and beliefs in energy planning in historically disenfranchised communities and to understand the implications of energy access in gender equity.

DEI Seminar Recording: The Flint, Michigan Water Crisis: A Case Study in Regulatory Failure and Environmental Injustice

lindsey Butler

The Flint, Michigan Water Crisis: A Case Study in Regulatory Failure and Environmental Injustice

View the Recording here: https://bluejeans.com/s/@6NK2dKwMfD

 Lindsey Butler, Ph.D.
Director of Climate and Health Resilience Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts

 

 ABSTRACT

 The Flint water crisis highlights numerous regulatory failures related to federal drinking water regulation, interpretation, and enforcement. The events that unfolded in Michigan, from the initial utilization of a corrosive water source to provide Flint’s drinking water to the inadequate response of numerous regulators, demonstrate how the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) can be wrongly interpreted, implemented, and weakly enforced, leading to dangerous exposure to unsafe drinking water. Our objective is to discuss these regulatory failures in Michigan in 2014–2015 in the context of other reported incidents of U.S. cities with high levels of lead in drinking water. Like the people of Flint, many of the affected residents are living in economically depressed areas with high rates of racial minorities. The recurring trend of unsafe drinking water in communities with this demographic profile qualifies this as an issue of environmental injustice.

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Lindsey Butler is an environmental epidemiologist, science communicator, and thought leader specializing in the intersection of climate change and human health. She serves as the Director of Climate and Health Resilience at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA) where her core priorities include reducing the organization’s environmental impact and moving towards carbon neutrality, making information about climate change and health accessible, and advancing environmental justice and climate resilience. Prior to joining Blue Cross, she served as the Deputy Chief of Policy to the Mayor of the City of Boston. Her work at City Hall focused on environmental policy, public health policy, language access, food assistance, developing the green workforce and   data driven governance. She holds a Master of Science and PhD in environmental epidemiology from the Boston University School of Public Health.

DEI Seminar: The Flint, Michigan Water Crisis: A Case Study in Regulatory Failure and Environmental Injustice

lindsey Butler

The Flint, Michigan Water Crisis: A Case Study in Regulatory Failure and Environmental Injustice

 Lindsey Butler, Ph.D.
Director of Climate and Health Resilience Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts

 February 9 – 5:00pm EST
https://bluejeans.com/651229727/3057
 

 ABSTRACT

 The Flint water crisis highlights numerous regulatory failures related to federal drinking water regulation, interpretation, and enforcement. The events that unfolded in Michigan, from the initial utilization of a corrosive water source to provide Flint’s drinking water to the inadequate response of numerous regulators, demonstrate how the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) can be wrongly interpreted, implemented, and weakly enforced, leading to dangerous exposure to unsafe drinking water. Our objective is to discuss these regulatory failures in Michigan in 2014–2015 in the context of other reported incidents of U.S. cities with high levels of lead in drinking water. Like the people of Flint, many of the affected residents are living in economically depressed areas with high rates of racial minorities. The recurring trend of unsafe drinking water in communities with this demographic profile qualifies this as an issue of environmental injustice.

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Lindsey Butler is an environmental epidemiologist, science communicator, and thought leader specializing in the intersection of climate change and human health. She serves as the Director of Climate and Health Resilience at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA) where her core priorities include reducing the organization’s environmental impact and moving towards carbon neutrality, making information about climate change and health accessible, and advancing environmental justice and climate resilience. Prior to joining Blue Cross, she served as the Deputy Chief of Policy to the Mayor of the City of Boston. Her work at City Hall focused on environmental policy, public health policy, language access, food assistance, developing the green workforce and   data driven governance. She holds a Master of Science and PhD in environmental epidemiology from the Boston University School of Public Health.

DEI in CEE: Transportation As a Means to Deepen or Bridge Divides

Jacob Tzegaegbe
Jacob Tzegaegbe Director of Expansion, Via Transportation

Thank you for attending yesterday’s eye-opening seminar by CEE alum Jacob Tzegaegbe.

You can view the abstract for Jacob’s seminar, Transportation As a Means to Deepen or Bridge Divides here: Seminar Announcement – DEI in CEE – Jacob

If you were attend this week, the recording is available here. The discussions that follow the seminar are not recorded in order to protect the privacy of our attendees.

Learn more about the DEI in CEE Seminar Series here.

Learn more about Jacob Tzagaegbe:

Spring 2013 Graduate Reflection Speech

Fireside chat with Jacob and Dr. Amekudzi-Kennedy-40 Under 40

100 Black Men of Atlanta Discussion

 

DEI in CEE — Jacob Tzegaegbe, Via Transportation (TOMORROW 1/26/22 @ 5:00pm on BlueJeans)

Seminar Announcement – DEI in CEE – Jacob Tzegaegbe

Jacob Tzegaegbe

Transportation as a means to deepen or bridge divides

Jacob Tzegaegbe Director of Expansion Via Transportation 

January 26 – 5:00pm EST

https://bluejeans.com/962491375/4154

ABSTRACT

The built environment does not exist by chance, nor is it impartial. Today’s streets are a result of yesterday’s policy, deliberate decision making, and/or deliberate inaction. Thus, transportation is as much a tool to connect as it is to divide people from communities, amenities, and opportunities. In this talk, we’ll look at the impact of transportation over time and how it has been used (purposefully or with good intentions) to divide, displace, and discriminate. You may even learn that to see evidence of this type of division you may have to look no further than your nearest street sign.

DEI in CEE Inaugural Seminar

Dr. Michael Falk photo
Dr. Michael Falk, Johns Hopkins University

Thank you for joining us yesterday for a thought-provoking seminar with Dr. Michael Falk, Professor at Johns Hopkins University,  followed by a lively discussion.

You can view the abstract for Dr. Falk’s seminar, “The Climate for LGBTQ students, academics and professionals in STEM: Lessons From a Study of the Physics Community” here:  Seminar Announcement – DEI in CEE – Michael Falk

If you were attend this week, the recording is available here. The discussions that follow the seminar are not recorded in order to protect the privacy of our attendees.

Learn more about the DEI in CEE Seminar Series here.

CEE 4801: DEI in CEE Course

Dear CEE community,

Happy new year! May 2022 bring you everything that you wish for and beyond.

As the Spring semester is approaching, I would like to bring your attention to a new seminar-based course entitled “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Civil and Environmental Engineering,” which will be offered in Spring 2022. The course is open to undergraduate students, but interested graduate students are invited to sign up for a special problem (CEE 8900) with me. We will alternate talks with roundtables. The talks will be remote and open to the whole CEE community. The roundtables between the talks will be reserved to students enrolled in the class. We will be meeting as a cohort every Wednesday 5pm-6pm. The syllabus is attached, and here is the schedule of the talks:

01/19: “LGBTQ+ (in)visibility in engineering”, Dr. Michael Falk, Johns Hopkins University

01/26: “Transportation: a means to enhance or alleviate discrimination”, Jacob Tzegaegbe, Expansion at Via

02/09: “How environmental justice changed after the Flint catastrophe”, Dr. Lindsey Butler, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts

02/23: “Gender equity in energy access”, Dr. Paulina Jaramillo, Carnegie Mellon University

03/09: “Accessibility to urban infrastructure for physically disabled persons”, Maria Sotnikova, Atlanta Regional Commission

03/30: “Assessing and improving climate on engineering campuses: UCLA case study”, Dr. Scott Brandenberg, University of California in Los Angeles

04/13: “Diversity and inclusion in civil and environmental consulting”, Bing Zhang, Kimley – Horn

The scope of the course and a detailed syllabus for the writing assignments will be discussed during the first lecture (on 01/12). Please email me if you have any question. Very much looking forward to seeing you in the DEI in CEE forum!

 Best regards,

Chloé Arson, Ph.D., M.ASCE   (she/her/hers)
Georgia Institute of Technology
Associate Professor, School of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences
Tel: (+1) 404-385-0143
Web: http://arson.ce.gatech.edu

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Civil and Environmental Engineering

Dear CEE community,
The CEE Committee on Diversity and Inclusion is proud to offer a new7 seminar-based course entitled “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Civil and Environmental Engineering” in Spring 2022. We will host seven speakers who will share their expertise on topics such as LGBTQ+ inclusion in engineering, gender equity in access to energy, environmental justice in the Flint catastrophe, infrastructure accessibility and DEI training in the engineering curriculum. The talks will be remote and open to the whole CEE community. The roundtables between the talks will be reserved to students enrolled in the class. We will be meeting as a cohort every Wednesday 5pm-6pm. A draft syllabus is attached. The scope of the course and a detailed syllabus for the writing assignments will be posted later. Please email me if you have any question.
 
Very much looking forward to seeing you in the DEI in CEE forum!