Increasing diversity and community participation in environmental engineering

Black, Hispanic, and Native American students and faculty are largely underrepresented in environmental engineering programs in the United States. A pathway for increasing diversity and community participation in the environmental engineering discipline is proposed in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Engineering Science.

"As a community, environmental engineering professors must examine all aspects of academic institutions to combat systemic racism, including teaching, research and university administration. This article presents a strategic plan for expanding the horizons of students and fostering faculty careers in a way that advances our mission," says Catherine A. Peters, Ph.D., Editor-in-Chief of Environmental Engineering Science and Professor, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Princeton University.

Lupita Montoya, University of Colorado Boulder, and coauthors propose exposing students to community-based participatory methods, establishing action research groups for faculty, and broadening the definition of research impact to improve tenure promotion experiences for minority faculty.