According to James Harrington, Ph.D., a chemist with the North Carolina-based research nonprofit RTI International, there are environmental challenges that disproportionately affect underserved communities and communities of color in the Southeast.
“Some of those challenges include low air quality, contaminated drinking water, coastal flooding, access to healthy food and living spaces, and access to resources to address these issues,” he said, in a press release.
Eight schools, however, are working with RTI to widen this resource access — and one of them is the University of Memphis.
The U of M School of Public Health (SPH), University of Georgia, University of Kentucky, University of South Carolina, Alabama A&M University, Florida A&M University, Jackson State University, and North Carolina Central University have received a $10 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and are partnering with RTI.
With the support of these institutions, RTI is coordinating an environmental justice center, which is expected to cover Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and six Tribal Nations.
Called Resource for Assistance and Community Training – Region 4 (REACT4EJ), it’s one of 17 centers that’s been selected by the EPA. And it will look to help communities access funding opportunities that advance environmental justice, by providing training and assistance for people and groups as they navigate federal grant application systems, write strong grant proposals, and effectively manage grant funding.
It's also set to offer meeting facilitation, community engagement guidance, and translation and interpretation services for limited English-speaking participants — which could remove barriers and improve accessibility for communities with environmental justice concerns.
“REACT4E is a very important partnership bringing together regional partners to establish an innovative, multidisciplinary, cross sector Environmental Justice Center that will help advance environmental justice by supporting individuals living especially in under-resourced and underserved settings in Memphis and the State of Tennessee,” Ashish Joshi, Ph.D., professor and dean of the U of M SPH, said in the release.
Joshi is a co-investigator on U of M’s portion of the project, along with Naser Titu, Ph.D., assistant professor of environmental health in SPH, and Arleen Hill, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Earth Sciences department. Chunrong Jia, Ph.D., another professor of environmental health in SPH, is the lead investigator.
The REACT4E is far from the only research project U of M is involved in these days.
In December 2021, it gained R1 status from the Carnegie Classifications of Institutions of Higher Education, and the university now wants to both retain this status and become nationally known for its research. Research dollars are playing a key role in this effort, and U of M’s faculty members have sought significant funding from major groups.
Here are examples of some of the research awards that went to professors in April:
- Celia Anderson, Ph.D., was awarded $652,440 from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville with the Tennessee Department of Education.
- Matthew Smeltzer, Ph.D., was awarded $416,442 from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention.
- Gary Bowlin, Ph.D., was awarded $414,779 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
- Latrice Pichon, Ph.D., was awarded $349,996 from the CDC and $35,700 from the State of Tennessee with the CDC.
Bolstering its research enterprise is one of U of M’s seven goals in its 2023-2028 strategic plan, which was announced on March 1.
The university wants to hire and enroll more research staff and doctoral candidates, increase external partnerships, and become a driver for economic development in the region by leveraging those partnerships. The institution also plans to make its research more visible.
