Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Promoting peace and justice with effective, accountable and inclusive institutions.

Peace is needed for the world to truly be sustainable. Wars and internal strife are destabilizing in the quest towards progress. Institutions need to be held accountable to fix the problems our planet faces. This requires them to be transparent and to enforce the will of its community.

Sarah Lopez | Migrant Detention, Incarceration and the Spatial Imagination [1:19:32]

Texas has more migrant detention centers and migrant prisons than any other state in the Union. Sarah Lopez focuses the construction and design of migrant detention facilities in Texas since the 1960s in relation to immigration policy and private prison practices. Using archival and ethnographic methods that include historic newspaper articles, ICE contracts and documents, satellite imagery, field observations and interviews, this historic genealogy of the construction of detention facilities reveals the government’s abdication of design responsibilities as private prison corporations and construction companies assume authority and responsibility for making critical design decisions that impact migrants’ daily lives. (School of Architecture and Planning, 4/17/19)

Staging Fascism: Contemporary Artistic Practice and Rationalist Urban Space [2:22:33]

This panel tackles the complex interrelation between artistic practices and their historically charged subjects in urban environments.Three of the participating artists, Eiko Grimberg (Berlin), Heidi Specker (Berlin), and Caterina Borelli (Rome), and UB faculty from the departments of Art (John Opera), History (Camilo Trumper), and Architecture (Charles Davis) discuss tensions and ambivalences at sites that once served as propagandistic stage sets of Fascist power. How can artists, historians, and architects address these issues as critical observers rather than accomplices? (School of Architecture and Planning, 4/29/19)

Environmental Protection Belongs to the Public: Citizen & Community Science Decision-making & Policy [1:18:00]

Alison Parker, PhD serves as a Senior Program Associate with the Science and Technology Innovation Program (STIP) at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. With STIP, Alison evaluates and amplifies innovative and participatory approaches to science and technology, including citizen science and low cost and open hardware. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Citizen Science Association, including as Chair in 2019-2020, and is a member of the Editorial Board of Citizen Science: Theory and Practice. (UB Community for Global Health Equity, 2/10/21)

Creating a Pathway to Climate Neutrality in NY [2:18]

On October 17th, 2019, the University at Buffalo hosted a conversation around the most aggressive climate change law in the country. The forum — Creating a Pathway to Climate Neutrality in NY: The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act — brought in policymakers, businesses, social justice advocates, environmentalists, academics, thought leaders and others and took a deep dive into the new legislation and what it means to achieving climate neutrality.

Earth Democracy: Sustainability, Justice and Peace

Dr. Vandana Shiva is trained as a Physicist and did her Ph.D. on the subject “Hidden Variables and Non-locality in Quantum Theory” from the University of Western Ontario in Canada. (RENEW)

Watch the Earth Democracy: Sustainability, Justice and Peace Lecture

The Need for Water Protectors

Winona LaDuke is a rural development economist and author working on issues of Indigenous Economics , Food and Energy Policy. She lives and works on the White Earth reservation in northern Minnesota, and is the Executive Director of Honor the Earth (HtE). 11-16-18. RENEW.

Watch The Need for Water Protectors Lecture

Community Health and Community Violence: The Relationship and Impacts

Dr. Sandra Lane employs an anthropologist’s eye to the intersection of community health and community violence. Weaving a path of research, professional and personal experience, and a keen appreciation for the dynamic relationships among populations and environments, Dr. Lane connects the dots to a thorough application of an ecological perspective to address health, mental health, and economic problems. Specifically, Dr. Lane addresses issues of infant mortality, reproductive health, gun violence, street addiction, and describes the impact of post-traumatic stress disorder on the biological, neurological, and educational functioning of affected community residents. (UB School of Social Work, 2/25/19)

Listen to Episode 258 of inSocialWork's Podcast [38:22]

Introduction to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Investing

Incorporating ESG factors into the investment process is a way to reflect personal and ethical convictions within an investment portfolio. Learn the basics of sustainable investing. (UB Alumni, 5/11/20)

Watch the Introduction to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Investing Webinar

UB PhD student receives Department of Energy fellowship
4/14/23
Sustainability facculty members Dr. Susan Clark and Dr. Nicholas Rajkovich will be moderators for two upcoming NYS webinars discussing the social and infrastrucutral impacts of extreme heat.
Fifteen students receive SUNY Chancellor’s Award
4/18/24
Fifteen students from UB have been recognized for their outstanding achievements in leadership, community service, campus involvement, or the arts, earning the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence, the highest student award offered by SUNY.
Sustainability Month at UB celebrates success, work yet to be done
4/2/24
Sustianability Month at UB is about celebrating our faculty, staff, and student work in making progress towards the goals of our university-wide Climate Action Plan.
UB public health students help previously incarcerated people re-enter the community
1/26/22
The United States is the world’s leader in incarceration. Roughly 2.3 million people are incarcerated across the nation, and another 4.5 million are actively under community supervision when they are released from a criminal justice setting.
The importance of teaching Black history during tumultuous times
5/15/23
LaGarrett King, head of UB’s Center for K-12 Black History and Racial Literacy Education, has some words about continuing to provide resources for teaching and learning Black history in the face of political censorship.
UB TCIE secures $300,000 to support offshore wind industry in NYS
3/19/24
The UB Center for Industrial Effectiveness (UB TCIE) received a $300,000 grant from the New York State Offshore Wind Training Institute (OWTI) for the project "Preparing NYS’s Renewable Energy and Offshore Wind Supply Chain." Its goal is to promote careers in New York’s supply chain workforce for offshore wind and other renewable energy and sustainability sectors such as solar, green building, and nanotechnology.
UB architecture students add to Silo City’s regenerating landscape
1/19/21
In a barren field in the shadows of towering grain elevators at Silo City, a group of UB architecture students have created a beautiful structure that will continue to evolve and take shape. And they did it amid the stops and starts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
UB experts, grad students contribute to NYS climate change report
2/29/24
New York State officials released a groundbreaking climate change report featuring crucial contributions from the University at Buffalo. In partnership with UB's Resilient Buildings Lab, the report offers vital strategies for safeguarding against climate impacts, showcasing UB's leadership in climate resilience research. UB's pivotal role underscores its commitment to addressing climate change, aligning with Vice President Kamala Harris's recognition of UB's sustainability research as a national model.
UB’s Carbon Reduction Challenge returns with new ways to reduce – and count — WNY companies’ emissions
5/14/24
After a two-year hiatus, the Carbon Reduction Challenge returned this semester to connect students with organizations around WNY, offering insight and problem-solving skills to provide solutions as to how these companies can reduce their overall carbon footprint.
Team says ‘cheeze’ to win UB entrepreneurship competition
4/25/24
First-year MBA students Matthew Mullens and Neharika Korati have won the 2024 Panasci competition, an inititiative that aims to maximize the entreprenurial spirit of students and create viable businesses in Western New York. The company, Empasta - a plant-based, cheese-alternative sauce - secured $25,000 in capital funding and $40,000 in in-kind services to further develop and expand their product offering.
Study examines educational and career disparities among minoritized students
6/13/24
New UB research reveals keys insights into the disparities of education and career outcomes among minoritizied students, outlining areas of development that may help mitigate these issues within the realm of higher education.
As a NASA intern, UB physics major sees link between Indigenous perspective and STEM
12/19/23
A senior UB physics major and current NASA intern explores the intersection of STEM and the indigenous perspective, delving into cultural values within indigenous communities and highlighting the convergence of science, technology, engineering, and math.
A whole new perspective
2/27/23
First-year UB students were given the opportunity to travel to Costa Rica and expand their knowledge of sustainability and environmental awareness through the Study Abroad Office's new First-Year Global Experience program.
Newly sequenced genome reveals coffee’s prehistoric origin story — and its future under climate change
4/16/24
A team co-led by researchers at UB has just developed a reference genome they believe is pivotal in deciphering the effects of climate change on various plant species, focusing particularly on Arabica, one of the beloved coffee species across the globe.
UB Singapore students win geospatial competition with food waste research
3/21/24
First-year students enrolled in UB’s geographic information science (GIS) program at Singapore Institute of Management have earned the top prize in an international geospatial science competition for their work mapping food waste across the island nation.
Leaving everything behind for the UB dream
7/24/23
In this student spotlight, UB environmental engineering master’s student Ambre Amat discusses the intersection of athletics and sustainability, providing insight into the work and research she's performed up until now.