The Office of the Vice President for Research, in partnership with the National Center for Institutional Diversity, has awarded nearly $500,000 in grants to eight research teams from across the University of Michigan to explore complex societal racial inequalities that ultimately inform actions to achieve equity and justice.

Dr. Tony Reames, an assistant professor at the School for Environment and Sustainability who is on leave while he serves as a senior advisor to the Department of Energy’s Office of Economic Impact and Diversity, is one of the researchers who has been awarded a grant for his project, "Enhanced Energy Monitoring for Energy Justice in Detroit."

This is the first cohort of researchers to receive the OVPR Anti-Racism Grants, which launched last spring in partnership with the NCID Anti-Racism Collaborative. Both were developed in accordance with the Provost’s Anti-Racism Initiative and a universitywide campaign that aims to strengthen community engagement and capacity around work that addresses racial inequality, equity and justice in society.

The grants will support a wide variety of projects that cover topics ranging from data-driven surveillance systems to residential energy consumption.

Enhanced Energy Monitoring for Energy Justice in Detroit

Team Leads: Johanna Mathieu (CoE), Tony Reames (School for Environment and Sustainability), Carina Gronlund (ISR), and Marie O’Neill (SPH)

Goal: The research team is leading a project that aims to increase the understanding of residential energy consumption in three majority African American and Hispanic neighborhoods in Detroit, focusing on low and moderate-income households.

Read the full story in the University Record