Making tech that works for the climate

Indigenous communities are often at the forefront of efforts to defend land and water from environmental harms. With support from a 2023 Network Challenge grant, the University of California Digital Investigations Network worked with the nonprofit Cultural Survival to conduct an open source investigation (OSI) into the deaths of 13 murdered Indigenous land defenders in Brazil. In addition to a report on the murders, they produced a report to help researchers, advocates, and support groups understand OSI tools and how the method can be used in environmental harm research, advocacy, and litigation. Read the report (both reports are also available in Portuguese and Spanish).

Co-founded by Sylvanna Falcón (UC Santa Cruz), Alexa Koenig (UC Berkeley), and Jess Peake (UCLA), the UC Network trains and mentors students in human rights investigations, researching and documenting grave social injustices using freely available information online and drawing from students’ interdisciplinary training in the humanities, humanistic social sciences, journalism, and the law.

As sovereign nations, Indigenous tribes in the U.S. have the right to make decisions about resource extraction and energy use on their lands. Their energy sovereignty, however, is often compromised by challenging relationships with state and federal governments and with private interests seeking to exploit tribal resources.

With support from a 2022 Network Challenge grant, Nathan Williams (Rochester Institute of Technology) worked with collaborators from Navajo Technical University and several other partners to host a Tribal Energy Sovereignty workshop. Leaders from Tribal Colleges and Universities, non-tribal research institutions and other stakeholders gathered in March 2024 to “craft a convergent research and workforce development agenda to support clean energy transitions in Tribal communities.” Read the workshop summary white paper here.

Creating and sharing high-quality learning materials is a central purpose of PIT-UN. Gala is an interactive case study platform developed by Rebecca Hardin (University of Michigan) and a team of technologists and researchers from UM’s School for Environment and Sustainability.

The platform features case studies from a wide range of open source libraries in biology and conservation, forestry, urban sustainability, and other fields and encourages prototyping and iterative improvement. Check out Hardin’s module on municipal drinking water (developed with support from a 2021 Network Challenge grant) and the full Gala library.

2024 PIT Career Fairs are underway! University of Virginia hosted one on Sept. 3, and up next is the University of Texas at Austin (Sept. 24) and Carnegie Mellon University (Oct. 1 virtual, Oct. 18 in Washington, D.C.). See all the dates & connect with career services staff here.

Three PIT-UN members from career services will present at the 2024 Grace Hopper Celebration on Fri, Oct. 11 about best practices for engaging students interested in PIT and opportunities to break into the field. Join Diane Taylor (Carnegie Mellon), Bobbi Makani (San José State University), Jennifer Furlong (City University of New York), Laura Bingham (Temple), and moderator Nia Brazzell, PIT-UN Student Network Coordinator, in Philadelphia or virtually. Learn more & register.

Missouri Institute of Science & Technology has two exciting events coming up: the Rural Infrastructure Challenge Summit on energy resilience tomorrow, Sept. 13, and the Symposium on Bridging Disparities in Health Care Using Artificial Intelligence on Nov. 22 in St. Louis. You can submit an abstract for the health care symposium by Sept. 15. Registration is free.

The Science and Technology Studies (STS) Teachbook Editorial Collective is calling for learning activity “recipes” (less than 1,000 words each) for a handbook on STS-infused critical pedagogy practices. Send proposals for recipes by filling out the form linked below by Sept. 20 (extended from Sept. 9). Emily York (James Madison) and her co-editors encourage submissions from teacher-scholars whose teaching primarily serves undergraduates, regardless of discipline or class size, and from teacher-scholars located in minority-serving institutions and outside of the Global North. Learn more & submit.

The 2025 #ShareTheMicInCyber Fellowship at New America is taking applications until Sept. 30, 2024. This fellowship provides an opportunity for mid-career cybersecurity professionals from diverse backgrounds to conduct independent policy research and analysis, find solutions for critical cybersecurity issues, and explore questions of diversity and the human side of cybersecurity. Learn more & apply.

The 2025 Govern For America Fellowship Application will open on Nov. 1, 2024. This is a two-year paid opportunity for recent graduates to serve in high-impact roles in governments across the country as part of a diverse community of engaged leaders. Learn more & start preparing your application.

West Virginia University’s PIT-UN Empower Program hosted 22 high school students from across West Virginia July 15 – 19, 2024. With the Health Sciences and Technology Academy (HSTA) the Bridge Initiative for Science and Technology, students had field trips to wastewater and drinking water sites, sampled for PFAS “forever chemicals” in surface water, and visited a dam. Each student conducted a policy analysis that looked at different ways to respond to a water-related challenge in their community and presented a one-minute policy pitch. The next step is for them to make this pitch to their home communities in the fall.

The PIT Northeast Regional Hub hosted the Impact Technology Fellowship this summer for 21 undergraduate students interested in civic technology. Students from Boston University, Olin College, Tufts University, and UMass Amherst worked full time for six weeks on PIT projects under the guidance of mentors and advisers from academia, the private sector, and government who provided technical and subject matter expertise. Read the report.

A new piece from David H. Guston (Arizona State) explores the idea of impact in science and technology: “how we imagine it happens, and what we as scholars might do individually and collectively to work toward it.” Read ”What We Talk About When We Talk About Impact.”