List of Presenters

She/Her/Hers

Suzanne Singer is a member of the Navajo (Diné) tribe and grew up in Flagstaff, Arizona. She co-founded the non-profit organization Native Renewables in 2016 to solve energy access challenges for 15,000 families on the Navajo Nation who live without electricity. Her mechanical engineering and energy analysis background provides the technical foundation to develop programs that promote tribal energy independence, offer affordable off-grid solar energy solutions, and provide training and education programs that empower families. Prior to founding Native Renewables, Singer was a staff engineer and post-doc at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where she supported energy security projects. In addition, she was an intern with Sandia National Laboratories’ Tribal Energy Program, which led to her passion in researching renewable energy generation and energy independence for Native American Tribes. Singer is the winner of the 2019 U.S. Clean Energy Education and Empowerment (C3E) Entrepreneurship Award, a recognition of outstanding leadership and accomplishments in clean energy. She is a 2021 Echoing Green Fellow which supports social innovators working to build an equitable and sustainable future. She earned a PhD and MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Arizona.

He/Him/His

Eric Tate is an Associate Professor at the University of Iowa, in the Department of Geographical and Sustainability Sciences.  He teaches and conducts research in the areas of flood hazards, water resources, environmental justice, and social vulnerability, using spatial indicators to explore environment-society interactions.  Dr. Tate earned a B.S. in Environmental Engineering from Rice University, an M.S. in Water Resources Engineering from the University of Texas, and a PhD in Geography from the University of South Carolina.

She/Her/Hers

Dr. Dorceta Taylor is a professor at the Yale School for the Environment.  Prior to that, she was a professor of environmental sociology at the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) for 27 years.  She was the James E. Crowfoot Collegiate Chair and the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at SEAS.   She also holds a joint appointment with the Program in the Environment. Dr. Taylor is the former Field of Studies Coordinator for SEAS’ Environmental Justice Program and a past Chair of the American Sociological Association’s Environment and Technology Section.  Professor Taylor received Ph.D. and master’s degrees from the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and the Department of Sociology at Yale University in 1991, 1988, and 1985.

In 2014 Dr. Taylor authored a landmark national report, The State of Diversity in Environmental Institutions: Mainstream NGOs, Foundations, and Government Agencies.  She authored a second diversity report in 2014 entitled, Environmental Organizations in the Great Lakes Region: An Assessment of Institutional Diversity.

Dr. Taylor has published influential books also.  Her most recent book, The Rise of the American Conservation Movement:  Power, Privilege, and Environmental Protection, was published in 2016 during the 100th anniversary of the founding of the national park service.  The book examines how conservation ideas and politics are tied to social dynamics such as racism, classism, and gender discrimination.  Revelations made in the book about the ideologies of John Muir, the slave-owning past of John James Audubon, and the eugenicist history of the Save the Redwoods League and the National Park Service have led to the Sierra Club, the National Audubon Society, and the Save the Redwoods League acknowledging the problematic discourses and actions of their founders. A recent congressional hearing on the lack of diversity in the Department of the Interior also acknowledged the significance of this work as well as other institutional diversity research.

Taylor’s 2014 book, Toxic Communities: Environmental Racism, Industrial Pollution, and Residential Mobility (New York University Press), examines the racial and socio-economic dimensions of exposure to environmental hazards in the U.S. She is also the author of The Environment and the People in American Cities: 1600s-1900s. Disorder, Inequality, and Social Change (Duke University Press). The book examines the history of environmental inequality and urban environmental activism.  It received the Allan Schnaiberg Outstanding Publication Award given by the Environment and Technology Section of the American Sociological Association in 2010.

Dr. Taylor was honored by the Smithsonian Institution in 2019.  She is the recipient of several awards including the National Audubon Society Women in Conservation Award, the National Science Foundation Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring, the Burton V. Barnes Award for Academic Excellence from the Michigan Chapter of the Sierra Club, the Charles Horton Cooley Award for Distinguished Scholarship from the Michigan Sociological Association, and the Frederick B. Buttel Distinguished Contribution Award from the Environment and Technology Section of the American Sociological Association.

She/Her/Hers

Faith Taylor is a DMV (D.C, Maryland & Virginia) native with a passion for understanding how marginalized communities in the United States are impacted by environmental racism and environmental injustices. She has worked for the Prince George’s County Maryland Planning Commission and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. She holds a B.S in marine science-biology from the University of Tampa and an M.S in marine, estuarine and environmental sciences with a concentration in environment and society from the University of Maryland- College Park. Faith is a proud member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated. In her spare time Faith enjoys going to the nail salon, hanging out with friends and trying new vegan restaurants.