February 2021 | Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment | Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation

Two Levenick Resident Scholars Named

Urbana, Ill. — The Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) is pleased to announce it will bring two renowned scholars to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus in Spring 2021.

Environmental activist and MacArthur “genius” grant recipient Catherine Coleman Flowers and nuclear engineering and nuclear policy expert Denia Djokić have been named Stuart L. and Nancy J. Levenick Resident Scholars in Sustainability Leadership for 2021.

“The Levenick Resident Scholar program gives the university community an ideal opportunity to learn and collaborate with accomplished experts in all aspects of sustainability science and policy,” said Jeffrey Brawn, the Levenick Professor of Sustainability who runs the program through iSEE and the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences (NRES). “I am especially excited by the scholars coming to our campus in 2021.

“Catherine and Denia are speaking to issues that range from environmental justice for rural and disadvantaged communities to global nuclear energy policy. These issues align seamlessly with the mission of our land grant university, and both scholars will engage a wide spectrum of disciplines within our campus. Despite the necessity of virtual residencies, I am confident that Catherine and Denia will have significant impact on our community.”

Flowers is the founder of the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice (CREEJ) and a Senior Fellow for Environmental Justice & Civic Engagement at the Center for Earth Ethics at Union Theological Seminary. A researcher, activist, and writer who brings attention to the largely invisible problem of inadequate waste and water sanitation infrastructure in U.S. rural communities, she was selected as a MacArthur Fellow in 2020. Her first book, Waste: One Woman’s Fight Against America’s Dirty Secret, explores the environmental justice movement in rural America and highlights her journey as an activist. Read more here.

During her time with iSEE in 2021, Flowers will host a Book Talk as one of four events at iSEE’s reimagined virtual Congress, “The Future of Water.” At noon April 14, she will participate in a round-table discussion about her book.

“I am honored to be named a Levenick Resident Scholar for 2021,” she said. “Wastewater infrastructure inequality is widely under-discussed in the United States, and I am grateful to iSEE for highlighting my work. Our country is beginning to listen to what activists have been saying for years: that environmental justice needs to be at the center of conversations around sustainability and energy.”

Djokić is a Researcher in Energy, Equity, and Society at the Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences Department at the University of Michigan, as well as an Associate at the Project on Managing the Atom at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. She holds a Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. Her research interests lie broadly in social and environmental justice aspects of the governance of nuclear energy technology. Djokić is currently engaged in epistemic and institutional reimaginings of the nuclear field, particularly through feminist and antiracist modes of inquiry. Her past research has encompassed technical and policy issues in radioactive waste management and advanced fuel cycle systems analysis. Read more here.

As a Resident Scholar, Djokić will take part in an upcoming iSEE Critical Conversation in May involving key stakeholders in examining the role of nuclear technology in a clean energy future, and she will collaborate on publications based on the discussion.

“I am honored and grateful to have been awarded the Levenick Resident Scholarship alongside Catherine, whose work and dedication to environmental justice I admire greatly and aspire to emulate,” Djokić said. “I am excited to bring my interdisciplinary background to the complex sustainability issues being investigated at the University of Illinois. Even if virtual, I look forward to my time on campus yielding many fruitful educational and collaboration opportunities.”

The Levenick Resident Scholars in Sustainability Leadership Program was funded by a generous endowment to iSEE and NRES in early 2019 from U of I Alumnus Stuart Levenick and wife Nancy Levenick of Naples, Fla. It was created to bring in experts in a variety of fields and disciplines from other universities, the private sector, and nonprofit organizations to share fresh perspectives and innovations with the Illinois community.

“We are grateful to the Levenicks for their continued support of iSEE and our campus,” said Madhu Khanna, Interim iSEE Director. “It allows us to bring in two outstanding experts in Denia and Catherine, and we are excited to have them lend their perspectives — and voices — to our campus dialogue.”

An Inside Look at the Resilience SWATeam: Q&A with Scott Tess

In Fall 2020, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign published the Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) the university’s strategy to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and pursue a culture of sustainability on campus and in the community.

The iCAP includes 10 themes, one of which is Resilience. Objectives managed by the Resilience Sustainability Working Advisory Team (SWATeam) include encouraging open conversations about climate topics and building resilience in local communities.

iSEE Communications Intern Grace Izzo (GI) recently spoke with Scott Tess (ST), City of Urbana Sustainability Manager & Resilience Officer. The community member of the Resilience SWATeam reminisces on his introduction to environmentalism and looks ahead to the future of climate resilience at Illinois.

GI: What is your involvement with iCAP 2020?

ST: I am on the campus and community Resilience SWATeam. This is a special team in that it’s not specifically about our campus, but rather is trying to loop in the communities around us. There are people from Champaign, Urbana, and Savoy on this team trying to help with our resilience goals.

GI: What specifically does the Resilience SWATeam do? What are the team’s biggest goals? Did any of those, in particular, inspire you to join the Resilience SWATeam?

ST: I’m particularly interested in the nature and urban biodiversity objective (#8.1: “Develop a coordinated urban biodiversity master plan by FY24 to make the Champaign, Urbana, Savoy, and campus metro area a model for biodiversity.”) and in working toward a regional plan of action for both of these. For example, our team did a couple of years’ worth of work with the Integrated Pest Management Institutes Program called Midwest Grows Green, which is working to cultivate natural lawn care approaches as a replacement for synthetic fertilizers and pesticides that expose us to higher levels of chemicals. We do other things along those lines, too. However, they are just not integrated into an umbrella. For example, we have a very active urban forestry program.

The Resilience SWATeam is also working to use native plant species in landscapes. We have been converting turf grass areas into planting beds that don’t require as much maintenance, especially lawn mowing maintenance that is typically going to be gas-powered.

The City of Champaign and the Urbana campus have both been implementing these nature and urban biodiversity activities, which gives an opportunity to tie everything together and advance that work even further.

GI: For those just starting out with very little sustainability knowledge, how would you advise them to start thinking sustainably?

ST: I might suggest thinking about what you are currently interested in. Whether it’s sports, cooking, or whatever it might be, what are the long-term implications of keeping that interest you care about going in a way that doesn’t create negative feedback loops on you, the community, and the world? Once you start to think about your own personal interests in that sense, you start thinking sustainably.

GI: What do you wish more people knew about the iCAP?

ST: I wish I knew more about the iCAP! It’s an enormous endeavor and very aggressive. It’s wonderful the university has incorporated ways to involve non-campus folks and really tie in and integrate the broader community.

More about Tess

A photo of Scott Tess delivering a presentation from behind a podium. Text on a banner hanging from the podium reads "Sierra Club."

Scott Tess attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for his undergraduate degree in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences (NRES). The NRES program is where his passion for the environment began.

“I had an environmental science class my freshman year, and the professor spoke very passionately about this growing problem called global warming. At that time, no one really cared — but it really captivated me. It’s on a global scale and is an existential threat that has solutions. ‘So,’ I thought, ‘this will be really great to work on for a couple of years, and then move on to something else.’

“Now it’s been more than a couple of years, and we are still working on it,” he said.

After attending the University of Illinois, he moved to Florida. Working first with the Fund For the Public Interest, a nonprofit organization, he later moved on to the role of Environmental Specialist with the Florida Department of Health, Division of Environmental Health to regulate new development in the state. Next, he took a job with the Orange County, Florida, Environmental Protection Division, working to prevent pollution and conserve energy and wastewater.

During his time in Florida, he earned his master’s degree in urban planning at Rollins College and began looking for opportunities with more responsibility. While searching for the right position, he found a great opportunity in Urbana — right where he had started.

“I was used to the area,” he said. “I expected this to be a place that was open to pushing the envelope in terms of sustainability and environmental protection, and that is the kind of place you want to work.”

He has been at the City of Urbana for eight years, working with the community and university alike to create a more sustainable future, working first as an Environmental Sustainability Manager and now as a Sustainability & Resilience Officer. And he now serves as a community member of the Resilience SWATeam, helping to come up with innovative resilience measures.

“The boundary between campus and community is institutional. It’s not a physical boundary, so really we are all in this together, and we will go farther faster if we work together and combine our resources,” he said.

When not focusing on improving the world around him, he turns his attention to his own athletic skills — training for a triathlon for a fun new change of pace. He hopes to participate in a race next year.

iSEE Plans 2 Environmental Leadership Workshops for Undergrads This Spring

The Environmental Leadership Program (ELP) is a new initiative launched this spring by the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE). Targeted at undergraduate students, the Program will include pre-professional workshops, field trips, and networking opportunities. Developing an undergraduate leadership program was a key educational objective in the Illinois Climate Action Plan.

“iSEE’s previous efforts have increased the amount of sustainability and environmental content in the U of I curriculum as we partnered with academic units from across campus on a sustainability minor, environmental writing instruction, individual classes, and course development opportunities,” said Gillen Wood, the institute’s Associate Director for Education & Outreach. “The ELP takes a slightly different approach: We are creating a ‘value-add’ — beyond coursework — for students interested in more practical experience on how to effectively advocate for the environment.”

iSEE is piloting two ELP workshops in Spring 2021: March 24 on environmental policy; and April 13 on corporate sustainability. Up to 25 students may register for each event, which are scheduled on campus non-instructional break days.

These workshops will allow students to develop their sustainability leadership and communication skills, to learn about relevant career paths in sustainability, and to establish valuable networking connections. Successful professionals in the environmental policy and corporate sustainability fields will lead the sessions.

More details will be forthcoming on the workshops, but registration is now open. Visit the Program page for more information and for links to register! >>>