Environmental justice - Center for the Environment

Ensuring just environmental impacts and opportunities for all people.

Environmental Justice is defined by the Environmental Protection Agency as the equitable and ethical engagement of communities in planning, designing and implementing evidence-based policies and practices for the well-being of human and natural ecosystems and in addressing the impacts of new and existing policies across all social structures. In addition to pursuing scholarly research in environmental justice, the Center for the Environment applies environmental justice as a guiding principle for research in the other themes. The applied nature of environmental justice requires close community engagement and transdisciplinary partnerships. These partnerships span local, national, and global contexts. With existing cross school and interdisciplinary strengths in air pollution, public health, social work, social systems and advocacy, the Center builds upon, advances and expands existing research and collaborations.

Scholar Spotlight

Theresa Gildner, PhD

Assistant Professor of Biological Anthropology

Gildner is a human biologist with expertise in biocultural health determinants. She is interested in how lifestyle variation and environmental conditions influence health outcomes and how these factors can produce and perpetuate health disparities.

Claire Masteller, PhD

Assistant Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences

Masteller and her collaborators partnered with the Centerville community in St. Clair County, Illinois to focus on the causes and consequences of severe flooding in the community. They aim to incorporate resident knowledge into data collection strategies and the design of their research.