The GCSC seminar series presents some of the best researchers--from around campus and across the country--whose work sheds light on global change and sustainability.
Seminars are at 4:00 pm on alternate Tuesdays in room 295 fasb. participants may also join via zoom.
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Seminars are open to all, and students who are enrolled in the Seminar course, SUST 6800, have additional opportunities to engage with the speakers.
FALL 2022
SPRING 2023
September 6, 2022
- Catalina de Onís, University of Oregon "La lucha sigue: Translating Energy Justice for Multiple Audiences" Cosponsored with the Department of Communication Read more.
September 20, 2022
- Kerry Case, Chief Sustainability Officer, University of Utah "Centering Equity in University Climate Action Planning" Read more.
October 4, 2022
- Alessandro Rigolon, City & Metropolitan Planning, University of Utah "Toward green space equity: Projects, policies, and systems change" Read more.
October 18, 2022
- Truman Young, Professor and Restoration Ecologist, University of California, Davis "Deconstructing the conservation-development paradigm, and reconstructing it in an African savanna" Read more. Cosponsored with the School of Biological Sciences
- Brenda Mallory, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality Also with Utah Law professor John Ruple, Senior Counsel, Sharmila Murthy, Senior Counsel, and Justin Pidot, General Counsel in the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Cosponsored with the Wallace Stegner Center for the Environment.
- Andrea Dutton, Professor of Geoscience, University of Wisconsin "Sea level of the past and future: At the Intersection of Politics, Race, Gender, Ice Sheets, and Corals" Read more.
April 4, 2023
- Thure Cerling, Distinguished Professor, Geology & Geophysics, University of Utah
"From the illegal ivory trade to nuclear waste – an improbable journey by an accidental geologist"
April 18, 2023
- Ruhan Nagra, Associate Professor of Law; Director, Environmental Justice Clinic, University of Utah
"Using Interdisciplinary, Multimodal Advocacy to Advance Environmental Justice in Louisiana"
Earlier this semester:
January 31, 2023
- Amanda Bertana, Department of Sociology, Southern Connecticut State University
"Avoiding Maladaptive Outcomes: Relocation as an Adaptation Response to Climate Change"
Read more.
February 14, 2023
- Danae Hernandez-Cortes, School for the Future of Innovation in Society, Arizona State University
"Examining disparities in air pollution exposure and its implications for environmental justice"
Read more.
February 28, 2023
- Jessica M. Smith, Professor in Engineering, Design & Society, Colorado School of Mines
"Sustainability and the Corporate Self: An ethnography of engineers and scientists working in the mining and oil and gas industries" Read more.
March 21, 2023
- Brian Eisenhauer, Professor of Sociology, Plymouth State University
"Promoting Environmentally Responsible Behavior: Lessons from 20 Years of Practice and Research"
Cosponsored with the Natural History Museum of Utah
Video recordings of most seminars (Spring 2015-on) are available for viewing by those with a U of U Network ID (uNID).
- Log in to Canvas to view seminar videos.
- Past seminars are listed here.
- Nominate a speaker for the Seminar Series.

Seminar April 4
Thure Cerling, Distinguished Professor, Geology & Geophysics, University of Utah. "Sometimes science questions seem to choose us. In this talk I will discuss my involvement in problems related to nuclear waste, the illegal wildlife trade, and other unexpected turns in my career as a geologist."
Read more