Environmental Symposium to Strengthen Ties Between A&T, EPA

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (Aug. 23, 2024) — An environmental symposium to be held at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University next month is intended to strengthen the partnership between the university and the Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA and N.C. A&T Environmental Symposium is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 9, at the University Farm Pavilion. About 200 students and faculty involved in environmental programs at the university and officials from the EPA’s Office of Research and Development in Research Triangle Park are expected to attend the all-day event.

A&T faculty member Godfrey A. Uzochukwu, Ph.D., who chairs the symposium’s organizing committee, said research, partnerships and relationships are the keys to addressing current and emerging environmental issues.

“Our world is facing so many environmental crises today — sea-level rise, ocean acidification, waste management, heat waves, wildfires, disease spread and damage to biodiversity and more. These issues affect food, water, air, land and energy and therefore can inflict serious economic losses,” he said. “Science makes sense when you share information, which is why it’s critical for our students, faculty and university to contribute knowledge, passion and effective solutions for environmental sustainability and to work hand in hand with the agency that makes our nation’s environmental policy.”

The symposium will open with platform presentations by university and EPA officials. Those remarks will be followed by poster presentations showcasing the research in environmental justice, air quality, water quality, and soil and waste management conducted by A&T undergraduate and graduate students and faculty. Uzochukwu said the poster session will allow students and faculty to interact and discuss their work with visiting EPA officials. These networking opportunities could lead to future research collaborations for faculty and potential internships and employment for students.

This event is the first to be held under a new Memorandum of Understanding, signed in November 2023, between A&T and the EPA. This five-year agreement is intended to increase cooperation between the university and the federal government agency in areas of mutual interest.

The symposium is being chaired by Uzochukwu, a senior professor of environmental sciences in the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences and founding director of the university’s Waste Management Institute, which coordinates interdisciplinary environmental and waste management education at A&T. He also is chair of the EPA’s Clean Air Status and Trends Network review panel, which is part of the environmental agency’s Science Advisory Board upon which he has served since 2021.

EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan ‘98 was Uzochukwu’s undergraduate assistant and mentee in the Waste Management Institute when he was an A&T student.

“We’re excited to be doing the EPA and N.C. A&T Environmental Symposium,” Uzochukwu said. “It will bring out the best from our students and researchers and from the Environmental Protection Agency. We can use that time together to find our way forward for the future.”