Four University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) graduate student projects are among 19 projects to receive more than $94,000 in summer research grants. Awarded by the Anti-Racism Collaborative, a provost-funded initiative of the National Center for Institutional Diversity (NCID), the grants are intended to build intergenerational networks of scholars.

In addition, two SEAS faculty teams are among eight research projects that have been awarded anti-racism grants. The nearly $500,000 in grants were awarded by the U-M Office of the Vice President for Research and jointly administered and advanced in partnership with the NCID.  

The four SEAS graduate student projects that have been awarded grants are:

Metered Exclusion: The Case of Lake Merritt in Oakland, California
Lyric Patterson (M.S. Student in Environment and Sustainability)

This case study of the Lake Merritt Parking Management Plan & Resolution in Oakland, California, chronicles the history of land dispossession around the cite up until the recent placement of parking meters around the historically free access points to the lake, arguing against them as an apolitical technology deployed by underfunded cities. Ethnographic studies reveal experiences of spatial exclusion amid meter-driven threats of gentrification, and scholars argue that such exclusion must be situated amid interlocking historical struggles where establishments have weaponized parking and planning tools for decades against marginalized communities. My interest is rooted in my experience as the eldest child of 6 raised by a single mother who struggled to make ends meet. I can thus imagine how impoverished families with barely enough money for rent, food, and transportation in Oakland, California, would experience exclusion from access to Lake Merritt due to this new financial burden. Lower-income community members have expressed concern about being targeted by this policy (Lake Merritt Parking Community Engagement Survey). Further, such restrictions could have further harmful implications for current and future generations, given climate extremes and the possibility of future pandemics like COVID-19, which saw rising use of Lake Merritt by families. I review literature demonstrating that urban green spaces provide essential services and are vital for public health, especially during high-heat events, when communities of color with less access experienced higher rates of mortality. Further, I conduct surveys and interviews to develop an understanding of the communities experience and perspective regarding my argument that meters restricting full curb access to essential services negatively impact the public health and well-being of low-income and BIPOC residents of Oakland.

Nurturing Roots of Justice: Integrating Equity and Environmental Stewardship into Michigan’s Food System Education
Justin Thompson (MS Student in Environment and Sustainability), Lashaun Jackson (MS Student in Environment and Sustainability), Sami Maldonado (MS Student in Environment and Sustainability)

In a transformative educational partnership, School for Environment and Sustainability students, the Great Lakes Stewardship Initiative (GLSI), and Michigan State University (MSU) Extension's Community Food Systems Team will advance equitable Michigan K-12 curriculum development for educators with specific attention to food systems, underscored by environmental, climate, and racial justice. This project will provide educators with a facilitator guide and a two-day training opportunity to deepen students' comprehension of the socio-environmental facets of food systems. The resources and activities shared with educators will center on place-based education practices to connect and engage young people with their local communities.

Planning ʻĀina Momona: Community-Based Design for Kānaka Maoli Food Sovereignty and Land Restoration
Radhika Handa (MBA/MS Student in Environment & Sustainability), Alana Hutka (MS Student in Environment & Sustainability/MURP), Maria Gili (MS Student in Environment & Sustainability), Daniel Lim (MS Student in Landscape Architecture), Jo Walker (MS Student in Environment & Sustainability), Arslan Younas (MS Student in Environment & Sustainability) 

Sustāinable Molokai, a Native Hawaiian-led nonprofit based on the island of Molokai, has engaged in a multi-year campaign to re-acquire 56,000 acres of stolen ancestral land and placing it back under community stewardship. The campaign advances the organization’s anti-racist goal of decolonizing the island and asserting Native Hawaiian sovereignty. Our collaborative effort will help advance the Molokai community's land back effort by producing three main bodies of research and deliverables: (1) ecological landscape planning and design, (2) community and youth education on land back and food sovereignty issues, and (3) creation of a virtual Geographic Information Systems (GIS) toolbox.

Building a Framework for Manoomin Restoration and Conservation in the Great Lakes Region

Abigail Merolle (MS Student in Environmental Justice), Brooke Bulmash (MLA Student in Landscape Architecture), Margaret Fornes (MS Student in Environmental Policy and Planning), Josh Hedgecock (MS Student in Environmental Justice, Ecosystem Science and Management), McKenna Johnson (MS Student in Ecosystem Science and Management), Ryan Piatt (MS Student in Sustainable Systems, Geospatial Data Sciences)

Read more about the graduate research grants here.

The two faculty research groups that have been awarded grants are:

Potawatomi Education in the Great Lakes Region
Kyle Whyte, SEAS professor; and Mary Beth Jäger, research coordinator at the SEAS Tishman Center for Social Justice and the Environment

This project aims to foster a collaboration that will launch an anti-racist education program for Indigenous peoples in the Great Lakes region, with a specific focus on people of the Potawatomi diaspora. The funding will support a research approach that combines a structured communication technique with an Indigenous talking circle research methodology.

Racial Capitalism and Anti-Racism in Kenyan Conservation
Bilal Butt, SEAS associate professor; Omolade Adunbi, professor at the College of Literature, Science and the Arts (LSA) and Michigan Law; and Muzammil Hussain, assistant professor at LSA.

To identify how and why racialized conservation injustice occurs and how it can be prevented in the future, researchers will integrate interdisciplinary theories, mixed methods and multiple lines of evidence to inform organizations working on conservation, justice and human rights.

Read more about the faculty awards here.