Social Justice Commons^™

A Just Energy Transition Requires Research At The Intersection Of Policy And Technology, Erin Baker

Publications

The current energy system, in the US and around the world, is rife with inequities. The coming energy transition to a low carbon world has the potential to right some of these; but, without intention, it is more likely to perpetuate the current inequities. Enabling a just energy transition will require multiple categories of action, including fair policies and regulations; data and metrics; and knowledge generation. I focus on this last point, and particularly research at intersection of energy technology and social equity.

Data-Driven Decarbonization Of Residential Heating Systems: An Equity Perspective., John Wamburu, Emma Grazier, David Irwin, Christine Crago, Prashant Shenoy

Publications

Since heating buildings using natural gas, propane and oil makes up a significant proportion of the aggregate carbon emissions every year, there is a strong interest in decarbonizing residential heating systems using new technologies such as electric heat pumps. In this poster, we conduct a data-driven optimization study to analyze the potential of replacing gas heating with electric heat pumps to reduce carbon emissions in a city-wide distribution grid. We seek to not only reduce the carbon footprint of residential heating, but also show how to do so equitably. Our results show that lower income homes have an energy usage …

The Dean’S Racial Justice Curriculum Challenge, S Civjan, Erin Baker, Samantha Wojda, Promise Mchenga, Nick Tooker, Esha Uddin, Hannah Wharton, Sophia Chang, Lia Ciemny, Jacqueline Thornton, Wayne Burleson, Paula Rees

Publications

This Work in Progress paper will present the College of Engineering Dean’s Racial Justice Curriculum Challenge. This challenge tasks all faculty in the college to use their engineering problem-solving skills to develop creative ways to incorporate issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and racial justice in every class we teach. The challenge was inspired by our students, who requested a greater connection between the technical content of classes and real world issues, in particular the role engineers play in either fostering inclusive solutions or contributing to the propagation of inequities. The intent is to engage faculty in the development of new …

Towards Equity In Energy Efficiency Analyses, John Wamburu, Emma Grazier, David Irwin, Christine Crago, Prashant Shenoy

Publications

The electric grid has begun a profound transition from primarily using carbon-intensive energy to instead using carbon-free renewable energy. In parallel, smart meters and other sensors are now providing us unparalleled visibility into the energy-efficiency of building and grid operations. Researchers are actively using building and grid energy data from these sensors to develop analytics techniques, e.g., using machine learning, that can improve energy-efficiency and facilitate the energy transition. Unfortunately, much of this research ignores the impact of these analytics on equity. That is, while current data analytics techniques may accurately identify energy-inefficiencies, they generally do not contextualize the underlying …

A Perspective On Equity Implications Of Net Zero Energy Systems, Erin Baker, Inês Ml Azevedo

Publications

We present examples of energy inequity, in both the current system and in potential net zero systems, and lay out some research needs in order to center equity in the study of net zero energy systems.

•Our current energy systems are inequitable across several dimensions.

•We must recognize and address barriers to a just and equitable net zero energy system.

•We highlight inequities in energy burden and energy insecurity; health consequences of the energy system; and decision making power.

•There is a need to define, quantify, and explicitly model equity outcomes in net zero systems.

•There is a need to …

Transformative Silence And Protest, Deborah J. Cantrell

Publications

Social movement protests have become common place in the last several years. Images come easily to mind of protestors marching down streets holding signs and chanting. Just as easily, images come to mind of counter-protestors yelling back, and law enforcement engaging protestors, often trying to control them with notable force. This Article recognizes that protestors often engage with speech, silence and the law in very pragmatic, but important ways. How does a locality handle permitting for protests? Are there noise restrictions to know about? How likely will it be that law enforcement will be present and making arrests? If there …

The Evolution Of Social Justice In International Higher Education, Aaron D. Clevenger

Publications

Chapter 3 from the book Social Justice and International Education. This chapter provides an over­view of the history of social justice, its relationship with higher education, key terminology surrounding the discourse, and the impact of educational activities and experiential learning.

Book Synopsis:

Social Justice and International Education brings together educators, scholars, and practitioners doing innovative work promoting social justice, confronting inequality, and fostering social responsibility in a global context. The book does not operate on a singular definition of social justice; rather, the authors describe their own definition and how it has guided their work. The book explores research, …

Cyber Social Threats 2020 Workshop Meta-Report: Covid-19, Challenges, Methodological And Ethical Considerations, Ugur Kursuncu, Yelena Mejova, Jeremy Blackburn, Amit Sheth

Publications

Online platforms have been increasingly misused by ill-intentioned actors, affecting our society, often leading to real-world events of social significance. On the other hand, recog-nizing the narratives related to harmful behaviors is challeng-ing due to its complex and sensitive nature. The Cyber SocialThreats Workshop 2020 aimed to stimulate research for thechallenges on methodological and ethical considerations indeveloping novel approaches to analyze online harmful con-versations, concerning social, cultural, emotional, commu-nicative, and linguistic aspects. It provided a forum to bringtogether researchers and practitioners from both academiaand industry in the areas of computational social sciences, so-cial network analysis and mining, natural language process-ing, …

Meeting At The Crossroads: A Dialogue Navigating The Intersections Between International Education And Social Justice, Aaron D. Clevenger, Linwood Whitten

Publications

No abstract provided.