Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE)

More than 80 students turned out for our Sustainability Career Panel last week, sponsored by?#iSEE?in partnership with the?Student Sustainability Committee - University of Illinois ?? Young professionals in sustainability positions with private industry, nonprofits, and government agencies talked about their work and how they prepared for their current positions. Several University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alums credited iSEE's #sustainability minor (the SEE Fellows Program) and Environmental Leadership Program for enhancing their career pathway! ?? Thanks to all who attended, and especially our wonderful panelists! ?? Kasandra Alvarez, Program Manager at Friends of the Forest Preserves ?? Lauren Louise Ellstrand, Global Enterprise Sustainability Analyst at?Boeing ?? Bridget Friel, Associate Engineer II at GTI Energy ?? Silas Gilklay, GIS Analyst at?WSP ?? Neil Kasbekar, Coordinator, Environmental Compliance and Strategy at?Invenergy ?? MJ Oviatt, Illinois Agroforestry Educator at the?Savanna Institute ?? Betsy Ruckman, Visiting Scientific Specialist, Sustainability at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center ?? Anna Scheidel, Natural Resources Technician at Champaign County Forest Preserves ?? Asli Topuzlu, Energy & Sustainability Analyst at?JLL ?? Jamie N. Zouras, Senior Specialist, Nature-Based Climate Solutions at?Delta Institute

Congratulations to iSEE Associate Director Jeremy Guest, a proven leader and research innovator who is "uniquely equipped to drive the transformation toward a sustainable future.”

iSEE is thrilled to share several exciting developments at the new Levenick Center for a Climate-Smart Circular Bioeconomy at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the first interdisciplinary center of its kind! ?? Jeremy Guest, iSEE's Associate Director for Research and an award-winning Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Illinois, has been selected as the center's first Director. Guest was also awarded an endowed professorship as the iSEE Levenick Professor. ?? Professor Kaiyu Guan, Professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences and Founding Director of iSEE's Agroecosystem Sustainability Center, has been selected as the ACES Levenick Professor. ?? Supporting the Center's growth, four new faculty will be hired by several departments in University of Illinois College of ACES and Liberal Arts & Sciences at Illinois through a Special Hiring Initiative by the campus! ?? Read the news release here: https://lnkd.in/gVbh9_Ti iSEE received a generous $10 million gift from Stuart Levenick L. and Nancy J. Levenick to establish the new center in partnership with ACES. The Levenick Center will foster interdisciplinary research and education to support the transition to a circular #bioeconomy – a holistic approach to production where waste from one sector can be used productively in another to keep materials in use longer, reduce the need to extract finite natural resources, and displace fossil fuels. Guest's research focuses on resource recovery, biomanufacturing, and systems analyses to advance the circular bioeconomy and achieve equitable, healthy, and prosperous communities while enhancing the ecosystems that support them. Guan, who is also affiliated with the National Center for Supercomputing Applications and the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science, is a prolific researcher known internationally for his work using agroecosystem sensing and modeling to improve agricultural productivity and sustainability. The Grainger College of Engineering

Excellent piece from Madison Holcomb, who put together this investigative report as part of iSEE's Sustainability, Energy, and Environment Fellows Program! Congratulations Madison! Read her story: https://lnkd.in/g7_dSYxa

Congratulations to Emily Heaton and D.K. Lee for this $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO)! Submitted through #iSEE and the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, the award is part of $52 million in DOE funding nationwide to advance the production of low carbon intensity, purpose-grown energy crops critical to accelerating a clean energy #bioeconomy. University of Illinois College of ACES

?? ?? Join our team! We’re looking for a Director of Strategic Communications with leadership experience who can guide and develop marketing and communications strategies for iSEE's cutting-edge research, high-quality educational programs and events, and innovative campus sustainability initiatives! Help support our work to make the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign a pioneer in sustainability, energy, and environmental leadership! ? Application deadline: Thursday, Jan. 9 https://lnkd.in/e6qwKvWa

iSEE's Critical Conversation on "Harvesting the Sun: Integrating Solar with Agriculture in the Midwest" was a great success, with participants engaging in lively discussions on the opportunities and challenges surrounding #solar farming in rural areas. It was exciting to see so many thoughtful stakeholders interacting and sharing their honest perspectives on solar farming, #agrivoltaics, and more! Many thanks to keynote speaker Karen Maguire of USDA's Economic Research Service for her talk, "Solar Development in Rural Areas: Examining the Trade-Offs," which is now available online at the link below! In her keynote, which drew a packed house to Chicago's Illini Center, Maguire shared valuable data on solar industry growth, the impact on communities, and current challenges. ??? Watch the keynote! https://lnkd.in/g4TyGed9 Madhu Khanna | Dan French | Katie Meyer | Brian Ross | Ed Brolin | Eric Rund | Shawn Rumery | Nick de Vries | Bryan Endres | Sarah Fisk | Colleen Callahan | Bowman Dennis | Evan DeLucia | Jesse Richardson | Juliana Isaac | Sol Systems | Luis Rodríguez | Alvin H. Baum Family Fund | Loretta Namovic | Nick Peterson | Bill Bodine | Paul Gharzouzi | Alan Bailey | James McCall

Congratulations to #iSEE affiliates Kaiyu Guan, Stephen Long and Atul Jain for being named to the 2024 Clarivate List of Highly Cited Researchers! The award recognizes highly influential scientists in the top 1% of their field. https://lnkd.in/ghU2DVYu

Register to join us at the Illini Center in Chicago on Weds., 11/13, from 5-6:30PM for the public keynote address for the sixth Critical Conversation from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE)! Karen Maguire, a Research Agricultural Economist at USDA, will give timely and thoughtful remarks entitled “Solar Development in Rural Areas: Examining the Trade-Offs” following the opening remarks by iSEE Director Madhu Khanna! The general public is invited to help us kick off this important dialogue Wednesday evening (11/13), so please simply register to connect with us, members of the Solar Farm Summit community, and many others interested in the intersection of energy and agriculture in the Orange & Blue Room at Illini Center in Chicago using the following link: https://lnkd.in/gZXPTiHc The full two-day forum will bring together diverse stakeholders to discuss solar farming on cropland, the relevant contentious issues, and the potential solutions to better integrate solar energy with agriculture in the Midwest. Farmers, solar energy developers, academics, financial experts, as well as representatives of environmental groups and government agencies, will engage in detailed and deeply constructive dialogue about the current concerns associated with solar farming on Midwestern cropland. Invited participants will also provide their perspectives on the role of agrivoltaics and the necessary policies from a regulatory, legal, and financial perspective to address these concerns for a more harmonized integration of solar and agriculture. Learn more on the event website:? https://lnkd.in/exayb_ps Watch the event preview on YouTube here: https://lnkd.in/gciX5mct #solar #energy #agriculture #farm #farming #solarfarming #agrivoltaics

What are the trade-offs involved in #solar farming? Register for iSEE's Critical Conversation public keynote next week in Chicago to hear Karen Maguire, Research Agricultural Economist at the USDA Economic Research Service, discuss issues surrounding solar development in rural areas. While there is broad support for increasing renewable #energy in rural areas, local communities have concerns about the effects of solar development on property values, agricultural land use, and the #environment. Smaller-scale alternatives such as rooftop solar and #agrivoltaics are available, but they can carry higher costs, Maguire says. Her Nov. 13 keynote, "Solar Development in Rural Areas: Examining the Trade-Offs," will highlight iSEE's sixth?Critical Conversation in Chicago?sponsored by the Alvin H. Baum Family Fund. The two-day event will bring together a diverse group of invited stakeholders to explore solar farming on cropland, relevant contentious issues, and potential solutions to better integrate solar energy with agriculture in the Midwest. The keynote will begin at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 13, at the Illini Center, 200 S. Wacker Drive, Chicago, with introductory remarks by iSEE Director Madhu Khanna followed by Maguire's talk from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Details/register ?? https://lnkd.in/exayb_ps Paul Gharzouzi | Bowman Dennis | Bruce Branham | Bryan Endres | Ben Campbell | Elizabeth Murphy | Luis Rodríguez | Sarah Fisk | University of Illinois College of ACES | Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics | Department of Agricultural & Biological Engineering | University of Illinois Extension | University of Illinois Chicago College of Engineering