Panther Initiative for Environmental Equity and Resilience (PIEER)
PIEER creates a partnership between UNI students, sustainability faculty, and the Recycling Reuse Technology Transfer Center (RRTTC) to deliver educational and engagement projects in the areas of environmental equity issues (justice and diversity) and environmental resiliency (sustainability). Current interns include:
- Ali Hamadah, Email: hamadaha@uni.edu
- Bilal Hussain, Email: hussainb@uni.edu
- Madison Johnson, Email: madison.johnson@uni.edu
- Mustafa Akbar, Email: akbar@uni.edu
- Alia Afzal, Email: afzala@uni.edu
- PIEER Graduate Coordination: Nadir Khan, Email: nadirk@uni.edu
PIEER will work with schools, UNI centers, and community organizations to provide educational awareness activities that can bring about new insights and understandings of environmental equity and resilience issues. The overall goal is to increase awareness about issues between rural and urban Iowans that will encourage engaged populations to consider positive changes.
Topics may include lead, radon, arsenic, or other little known environmental hazards in the home or community. PIEER interns are working on their own cultural competency through attending National Coalition Building Workshops and a guided book reading. PIEER will also focus on lack of access to healthier food choices, community gardens, gathering unused seasonal fruits and vegetables for the Northeast Iowa Food Bank, and making these changes sustainable to benefit future generations.
View Fall 2015 PIEER photos
View Spring 2016 PIEER photos
View Fall 2016 PIEER photos
UNI Up Close
UNI Day at the Capitol
UNI Day at the Capital Write Up
Connect and Engage Fair
2017 Connect and Engage Fair Write Up
Food and Film Festival
Food, Faith, and Climate: Connecting the Dots
Food, Faith, and Climate Write Up
Article Links
UNI sustainability project looks to have impact in region
UNI Ready Campus fair puts spotlight on disaster preparedness