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2026 - Faculty & Staff Research Symposium, Elizabeth Outka, Lidia Radi

Faculty and Staff Research Symposium Programs

[Excerpt from the "Welcome"]

Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to the third Faculty & Staff Research Symposium!

The Symposium offers us the chance to come together as a community and learn about the inspiring work happening across our campus. Faculty and staff continue to push the boundaries of research, to design and maintain new learning and gathering spaces, to craft remarkable art and performances, and to develop innovative programs that enrich our collective experience. The event is meant to spark curiosity, build connections, inspire partnerships, and open new pathways for exploration. . . .

This symposium is your creation — it thrives …

Community Influence In Streamlined Siting Regimes, Danielle Stokes, Uma Outka

Law Faculty Publications

Siting energy infrastructure has long been contentious, but growing local opposition to new energy projects in the U.S. – notably, wind and solar facilities – has drawn nationwide headlines. The legal context for energy siting varies across U.S. states, with local control being a dominant model. Against this backdrop, several states have adopted legislation to facilitate renewable energy siting by adjusting decisional authority between the local and state level.

This article evaluates these reforms at a time marked by change and uncertainty within the energy sector. Bipartisan support for infrastructure permitting reform generally has gained momentum in recent years, often …

Indigenous Invisibility: Gaps In Education About Indigenous Peoples Among Environmental Decision-Makers, Brittany D. Hunt, Ryan E. Emanuel, David E. Wilkins, Shelly H. Wilkins

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Millions of Indigenous people belong to hundreds of Tribal nations and self-determined communities throughout the United States. Many of these groups continue to steward lands and waters that have shaped their distinct cultural and political identities since time immemorial. Increasingly, environmental professionals acknowledge the need to respect, understand, and defer to Indigenous knowledge about Earth's stewardship, but substantial barriers prevent full realization of these goals. One deep-seated barrier is a widespread deficiency in basic education about Indigenous peoples. Education on Indigenous peoples in schools is often fraught with two problems: erasure and stereotypes. Thus, students who pursue environmental careers often …

A Conversation With Dr. Shannon Jones Faculty Highlight, Paxton Mills

Osmosis Magazine

Dr. Shannon Jones, Senior Teaching Faculty in the Department of Biology, is a toxicology expert, teacher, and long-time mentor from Roper, North Carolina. With a PhD in Toxicology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Dr. Jones came to the University of Richmond with a purpose: to transform the lives of her students.

Justice In A Sacrifice Zone; Early Land Use Battles And Environmental Injustice In Salt Lake City's Westside, Shiv Pandya

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

“Are we so buried under railroads and coal yards that we have no further rights?” — A Westside Resident, 1918 In 1918, residents of Salt Lake City’s Westside,” home to much of the city’s low-income, immigrant, and minority populations, protested the poten- tial codification of their community into an industrial zone where unchecked development would threaten their health and wellbeing.® Their “smoldering indignation . . . burst into flame” as they sought to make their voices heard, distributing a thousand leaflets to fellow Westsiders that called for a mass gathering in front of the city’s zoning committee.* Their efforts, while …

Climate Change: The World In Uncharted Waters – Exploring The Nexus Of Human-Rights Based Legal Instruments And Climate Change, Emma V. Wilson

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

The framework of human rights is based on a “fundamental and irrevoca- ble belief in the dignity and worth of every individual.”! While many differ- ent channels have emerged for protecting human rights in the face of global climate change, there is still significant room for improvement. For decades, there was no formal recognition of human-centered environmental rights.? The recent United Nations General Assembly (“UNGA”) acknowledgement of a right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment is a tool that can “facilitate the reconceptualization of human rights law to better adapt to the negative impacts of climate change.” It represents …

Richmond Law Magazine: Autumn 2025

Richmond Law Magazine

Danielle Stokes and the energy discussion

Beyond the page

The mentorship web

Zealandan Interview With Dr.Kristine Grayson From Aotearoa New Zealand, Paxton Mills

Osmosis Magazine

ZealandDr. Kristine Grayson, Associate Professor of Biology, has been passionate about science and travel, particularly toAotearoa New Zealand, for some time.

Practicing Community, Cultivating Democracy -- Lessons From Professional Power Shifters, Sylvia Gale

Other Publications

Below I describe five intentional practices people working in human-facing professions can employ in order to create the conditions for a healthy democracy.

These practices were originally distilled from my observations at the Deaconess Foundation’s Helsinki D-Stations and from my interactions and discussions with professionals across the Foundation’s Civic Action and Community Programs team from January-June 2023, when I was hosted by the Deaconess Foundation on a Mid-Career Professional Development Award from the Fulbright Finland Foundation. Since then, I have augmented and clarified these practices through observation and reflection with colleagues in my American context, where I am the executive …

Virginia Heat Watch: Collaboration To Assess Climate Vulnerability At Local To Regional Scales, Todd R. Lookingbill, Karin P. Warren, J. Christopher Haley, Elizabeth G. Malcolm, Lisa Jordan Powell, Scott M. Starr, Srarah Melissa Witiak, Michael J. Wolyniak, Beth Zizzamia

Geography and the Environment Faculty Publications

Systematic studies of temperature using consistent, field-validated methods are needed to make inter- and intra-urban heat comparisons and to prioritize resources and mitigation strategies. This study investigated spatial patterns of heat hazard across 10 small- to medium- sized cities in Virginia, USA, using a community science approach. Air temperature data were collected on a high-heat day in July 2021, employing a network of 213 volunteers. Geolocated one-second temperature and humidity measurements were used to create and validate 10-m resolution temperature models for each locality. Results indicate substantial intra-urban temperature differentials even in the smallest localities, averaging 3.2 °C for …

Renewable Energy Federalism 2.0, Danielle Stokes

Law Faculty Publications

Much like climate change, the clean energy transition presents a “super wicked” problem that is further complicated by prioritizing justice. History has taught us that government regulation, industry innovation, and community engagement are the catalysts of effective transitions. Similarly, the just energy transition requires the support of these interconnected networks. This Essay offers sustainable collaborative governance as a theoretical framework through which decision-makers may filter their assessments, industry can model its metrics, and community can develop language to articulate its needs. Sustainable collaborative governance is also a means of navigating the complexities of renewable energy siting and regulation while fostering …

Ip, At, And Aaas: What Intellectual Property Can Teach Antitrust About The War On Amazon Basics, Kristen Osenga

Law Faculty Publications

Amazon is magical. Search the online marketplace for pretty much anything you can imagine—not to mention all the things you never imagined; you will likely find what you were searching for and be able to have it delivered in two days or less. The magic is not just in Amazon’s vast array of innovative consumer products but also in its providing access to goods that are unavailable locally. An extreme example of Amazon’s ability to supply goods that were not locally available may be found in the pandemic lockdowns of 2020, when neighborhood stores were out of toilet paper and …

Living The Good Life In The Anthropocene, Danielle Stokes

Law Faculty Publications

The Stockholm Resilience Centre has concluded that the number of “planetary boundaries” we are crossing has increased from three in 2009, when the Centre’s researchers first introduced the concept, to six in 2023. Crossing these boundaries means humans are changing basic attributes of planetary systems to the point of risking the future of civilization. And the distinction between “safe” and “just” planetary boundaries raises questions regarding how to conceptualize the “good life.” In this latest in a biannual series of essays, members of the Environmental Law Collaborative explore conceptions of the “good” as well as the various elements necessary to …

From Community Science To Community Justice: Protecting Data Usability In Community Air Quality Monitoring Networks, Marley Manjarrez

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

Community science holds significant promise for empowering communities to address air quality disparities and advocate for policy change. However, the usability and legal defensibility of community-collected data pose significant challenges. This article argues that with the help of low-cost tools such as air quality monitors, community members can take an active role in combating the disproportionate distribution of air pollutants hidden by our current regulatory scheme. By examining the regulatory frameworks under the Clean Air Act and opportunities for procedural justice at federal, state, and local levels, the article identifies pathways for incorporating community-collected data into air quality regulation and …

Biopiracy: Using New Laws And Databases To Protect Indigenous Communities, Cleo-Symone Scott

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Indigenous people have a historical link to those who inhabited a country or region at the time when people of different cultures or origins arrived. Traditionally, indigenous people have a special relationship with their ancestral environments. But their way of living has long been under threat. The land that indigenous people live on is home to over 80% of our planet’s biodiversity, but it continues to be appropriated and plundered due to bioprospecting or, as some call it, biopiracy. Bioprospecting is defined as “the exploration and information gathering of genetic and biochemical material to develop commercial products.” While innovation is …

Virtual Energy, Joel B. Eisen

Law Faculty Publications

From employment to education, many areas of our daily lives have gone virtual, including the virtual workplace and virtual classes. By comparison, the way we generate, deliver, and consume electricity is an anachronism. And the electric industry’s outdated business model and regulatory framework are failing. For the last century-and-a-half, we have relied on ever larger power plants to generate the electricity we consume, often hundreds of miles away from the point of production. But the outsized carbon footprint of these power plants and the need to transmit their output over long distances threaten the electric grid’s reliability, affordability, and long-term …

From Redlining To Greenlining, Danielle Stokes

Law Faculty Publications

For generations, marginalized communities have been impacted by discriminatory land use, zoning, and property valuation policies, from redlining in the 1930s to the siting of undesirable land uses that persists today. Because of these policies, marginalized communities are forced to contend with low property values, substandard infrastructure, and increased health risks. The very same mechanisms that created these injustices, however, may now be key to addressing them. This Article introduces “greenlining” as a land use planning mechanism that seeks to remediate historical housing, siting, and economic disparities while forging a path toward energy and environmental justice. Greenlining, the productive and …

Biopiracy: Using New Laws And Databases To Protect Indigenous Communities, Cleo-Symone Scott

Law Student Publications

Indigenous people have a historical link to those who inhabited a country or region at the time when people of different cultures or origins arrived. Traditionally, indigenous people have a special relationship with their ancestral environments. But their way of living has long been under threat. The land that indigenous people live on is home to over 80% of our planet’s biodiversity, but it continues to be appropriated and plundered due to bioprospecting or, as some call it, biopiracy. Bioprospecting is defined as “the exploration and information gathering of genetic and biochemical material to develop commercial products.” While innovation is …

From Community Science To Community Justice: Protecting Data Usability In Community Air Quality Monitoring Networks, Marley Manjarrez

Law Student Publications

Community science holds significant promise for empowering communities to address air quality disparities and advocate for policy change. However, the usability and legal defensibility of community-collected data pose significant challenges. This article argues that with the help of low-cost tools such as air quality monitors, community members can take an active role in combating the disproportionate distribution of air pollutants hidden by our current regulatory scheme. By examining the regulatory frameworks under the Clean Air Act and opportunities for procedural justice at federal, state, and local levels, the article identifies pathways for incorporating community-collected data into air quality regulation and …

Rural America As A Commons, Ann M. Eisenberg

University of Richmond Law Review

With many ready to dismiss non-urban life as a relic of history, rural America’s place in the future is in question. The rural role in the American past is understandably more apparent. As the story of urbanization goes in the United States and elsewhere, the majority of the population used to live in rural places, including small towns and sparsely populated counties. A substantial proportion of those people worked in agriculture, manufacturing, or extractive industries. But trends associated with modernity—mechanization, automation, globalization, and environmental conservation, for instance—have reduced the perceived need for a rural workforce. Roughly since the industrial revolution …

The Legislative Graveyard: A Review Of Virginia's 2022 Regular General Assembly Session, Kaylin Cecchini, Haley Edmonds

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

In 2019, Democrats won a majority in the House of Delegates and the Senate, and the Commonwealth was led by a Democratic Governor. The Democrats’ majority trifecta, which they had obtained for the first time since 1992, was once again lost on November 2, 2021, when Virginians voted to renew the Republican leadership in the Office of the Governor and in the House of Delegates. Under this once again bifurcated, yet unusually polarized, assembly, legislators on either side of the political aisle faced an uphill battle getting legislation passed, with the majority of bills ending in a stalemate. As a …

The Legislative Graveyard: A Review Of Virginia's 2022 Regular General Assembly Session, Kaylin Cecchini, Haley Edmonds

Law Student Publications

In 2019, Democrats won a majority in the House of Delegates and the Senate, and the Commonwealth was led by a Democratic Governor. The Democrats’ majority trifecta, which they had obtained for the first time since 1992, was once again lost on November 2, 2021, when Virginians voted to renew the Republican leadership in the Office of the Governor and in the House of Delegates. Under this once again bifurcated, yet unusually polarized, assembly, legislators on either side of the political aisle faced an uphill battle getting legislation passed, with the majority of bills ending in a stalemate. As a …

2023 Faculty Accomplishments Reception, University Of Richmond

Faculty Accomplishments Reception Programs

Program for the 2023 Faculty Accomplishments Reception In Honor of University of Richmond Faculty Contributions to Scholarship, Research and Creative Work, January 2022 - December 2022.

March 1, 2023, 3:30 - 5:00 p.m. Boatwright Memorial Library.

Synthesizing Energy Transitions, Danielle Stokes, Nadia Ahmad, Uma Outka, Hannah Wiseman

Law Faculty Publications

This Article assesses the growing and cross-disciplinary literature on energy transitions to explore how it can guide law and policy reforms for the energy sector. The modern conception of energy transition centers primarily on clean energy—a shift away from fossil energy dependence. It also, however, incorporates equity as a core principle, as an increasing emphasis on energy justice and just transition seeks to create guiding norms for the energy sector’s current state of change. The concept of energy transition is critical for describing and giving meaning to a fundamental societal shift at the local, regional, national, and global scales, aligned …

Covid-19 And Energy Justice: Utility Bill Relief In Virginia, Joel B. Eisen

University of Richmond Law Review

Energy justice has captured national attention as scholars have spotlighted inequities in energy production and distribution activities, energy and utility regulation, and the clean energy transition. Within this broader context, this Article reflects on the successes and setbacks for the movement toward energy justice through a case study focusing on legislative, executive, and regulatory attempts between 2020 and 2022 to provide relief for Virginia utility customers harmed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Article begins by defining the problem of energy insecurity and demonstrating that the pandemic exacerbated existing energy insecurity for vulnerable citizens of Virginia. It then traces the efforts …

Prefatory Matter

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

No abstract provided.

Forty Years Of Environmental Justice: Where Is The Justice?, Jon A. Mueller, Taylor Lilley

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

Environmental Justice (or“EJ”) has been recognized as a concept since

at least 1982. After decades of incremental and ineffective efforts by the federal

government, it has become clear that EJ must evolve beyond the concept

stage if it is to be an effective vehicle for social and legal change. At its heart,

EJ is a function of social inequities and environmental harms, and the disproportionate

correlation between those components can no longer be ignored

by state and federal actors. The way forward must be paved with practical

legal solutions and affirmative application of regulatory authority. This

article examines the history …

Incorporating Environmental Justice Into Benefit-Cost Analysis Of Federal Rulemakings, John D. Graham

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

President Biden proposes to revise the federal rulemaking process to advance

the values of justice and equity. This analysis offers a practical path

forward by adding an equity test to the efficiency test applied to new federal

regulations by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. This article explores

the feasibility of the proposal with applications to regulation of hazardous

air pollutants and drinking water contaminants. The proposal seeks

to advance the interests of low-income Americans in federal rulemaking, a

subgroup that has received little historical priority in the regulatory impact

analyses prepared by federal regulatory agencies.

Deconstructing Inequality: Cumulative Impacts, Environmental Justice, And Interstate Redevelopment, Lemir Teron

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

The siting and development of Interstate 81 in Syracuse, New York, similar

to highway projects across the nation, lead to the displacement of Black

Syracusans

and has exposed thousands of remaining residents at heightened

environmental harm. As the interstate is slated to be redeveloped due to age

and safety issues, national attention has focused on the highway as a potential

exemplar for similar projects across the United States. Federal law mandates

that environmental impact analysis be conducted, and due to the prevalence

of marginalized populations, environmental justice impacts are a

critical feature in this assessment. This article evaluates both the …

Armoring The Just Transition Activist, Abigail Fleming, Catherine Dremluk

Richmond Public Interest Law Review

The fossil fuel energy system, reinforced by oppressive policies and practices,

has disproportionately harmed poor people, Indigenous people, and

Brown and Black people and driven the global climate crisis. A just transition,

which displaces fossil fuels and redistributes renewable energy resources,

requires policies that are rooted in equity and shift power back to

the hands of the most vulnerable. Just Transition Activists, leaders, organizers,

and changemakers in the just transition movement, must develop transformative

skillsets necessary to radically reimagine our world and dismantle

the current unequal system of law and policy. This analysis explores the

skills, attributes, beliefs, and attitudes …