Schiller Student Challenge
Grappling with Environmental Racism
During the 2020-2021 academic year, the Boston College Schiller Institute for Integrated Science & Society delivered a series of programming and initiatives to recognize environmental racism as a challenge of our time and our campus.
In Spring 2021, the Schiller Institute highlighted and sponsored projects by students and student groups that grapple with race and environmental justice. Undergraduate and graduate students were invited to participate.
Projects included, but were not limited to, short pieces of writing offering unique perspective or personal reflections on environmental racism, draft op-eds addressing environmental racism and suggesting action to be taken, visual media interpretative works (photos, videos, etc.), research projects, data analysis projects, documentation of community action projects, and creative writing.
Students were invited to participate in the Challenge in multiple ways. The Schiller Institute offered funding opportunties to support their projects.
The Student Challenge was co-sponsored by the Environmental Studies program and the Office of Student Involvement.
Students were invited to submit requests for funding support for proposed class projects to the Schiller Institute. Funding was intended to assist with completion of the project and may include supplies, travel, equipment, software, and research costs. Support for travel costs was subject to the most up-to-date COVID-19 public health guidance. Funding of up to $200 per project was available.
Completed projects (whether funded by Schiller or not) were submitted to the Schiller Institute. After a quality assurance review process assisted by faculty, staff, and student stakeholders took place, selected projects were chosen to be featured on this web page.
Projects could be, but were not limited to, short pieces of writing offering a unique perspective or personal reflection on environmental racism, draft op-eds addressing environmental racism and suggesting action to be taken, visual media interpretative works (photos, videos, etc.), research projects, data analysis projects, documentation of community action projects, or creative writing.
Students were also encouraged to submit an abstract of their project for the Environmental Racism Summit.
The Environmental Racism Summit took place on Friday, April 23, 2021 from 1-3 PM.
The Summit featured student presentations about projects submitted in response to the Schiller Student Challenge. The Summit was part of the Earth Day Fair hosted by the student organization EcoPledge and took place on Stokes Lawn. Posters were also on display throughout the day. The recording of the event is available here.
Project Archive
The Schiller Institute is proud to highlight projects by students and student groups that grapple with race and environmental justice in response to the Schiller Student Challenge. The projects below are organized based on the class where the project was submitted. This page also includes projects that were on display at the Environmental Racism Summit.
Environmental Injustice: The COVID-19 Pandemic, Air Pollution, and Other Correlating Factors in Massachusetts
By Elizabeth Allen, Environmental Studies and Economics major, Class of 2021
Factors that Change Secondhand Smoke Exposure Among Women of Reproductive Age in Bangladesh including Grameen Bank Membership (2011)
By Kiran Khosla, Environmental Studies major, Class of 2019
Exploring the Relationship Between PM2.5 and Racial Demographics in the Chicago Area
By Gabriella Reiter, Environmental Geoscience and Sociology major, Class of 2021 and Sarah Ashebir, Environmental Science major, Class of 2021
Environmental Racism, Alternative Medicine, and Covid-19
By Tony Lewis, Economics major, Class of 2023
Intersection of Language Disadvantages Experienced by Adult Immigrants Displaced by the Climate Crisis
By Olivia Grace Murray, Psychology major, Class of 2023
Environmental Racism and Endangered Languages
By Maria Zuniga, Psychology major, Class of 2023
Climate change, Forced migration and Language
By Amanda Brown, Psychology BA major, Class of 2021
Impact of Language Barriers on Climate Refugees
By Brooke Kelly, Psychology BA major, Class of 2023 and Kara Doyle, Psychology BA major, Class of 2023
Ras Baraka’s Greenwashed Re-Election Plans Run Contrary to His Deceitful Handling of the Newark Lead Crisis, Revealed by the Collective Action of the Newark Water Coalition
By Megan Sharkey, Environmental Studies major, Class of 2023
A Long History of Community Organization with Varying Levels of Success: Puerto Rican Activists Tackle Tunnel Mold
By Haley Grieco-Page, Neuroscience major, Class of 2022
Environmental Justice: COVID-19 and Air Pollution in the City of Boston
By Alinda Dersjant, Chemistry major, Class of 2021; Sydney Eichman, Finance major, Class of 2021; and Michael Ciccarello, Political Science major, Class of 2021
GoGreen App to promote people’s awareness of their daily environmental footprints
By Yicheng Shen, Computer Science major, Class of 2021; Jianxin Wang, Computer Science major, Class of 2022; Qingyun Yang, Computer Science and Psychology major, Class of 2022; , Computer Science and Economics major, Class of 2022; Zehua Zhang, Computer Science and Economics major, Class of 2022
Visual representation of student action items to address environmental racism beyond the walls of the classroom
By first-year students in the joint Enduring Questions courses
Reimagining the Civil and Environmental Engineering Curriculum
By Siobhan Merrill, Civil Engineering major, Class of 2021 (paper submitted in a course called “Justice through Agriculture” with professor Chara Armon