Millions of people, especially people of color, are cut off from quality food, jobs, healthcare and education, because they lack access to suitable transportation. School of Architecture Associate Professor and Good Systems Chair Junfeng Jiao coined the term 'transit deserts' to describe these areas. He talks with WBEZ Chicago about possible solutions.

Community and Regional Planning doctoral candidate Deidre Zoll shares about her work examining the climate planning efforts in Houston and San Antonio and whether they amplify existing inequalities.

Planet Texas 2050 researcher and LBJ School of Public Affairs environmental policy expert Patrick Bixler joins Texas Public Radio's The Source to talk about energy reform, climate change and environment-related bills the Texas Legislature is taking up this session.

Planet Texas 2050 researcher and Jackson School of Geosciences Professor Dev Niyogi joins Texas Public Radio's The Source to talk about U.S. President Biden's infrastructure investment plans and shifts to greener energy.

Karen Johnson, an associate professor in the School of Nursing and Whole Communities–Whole Health researcher, shares her experience administering COVID-19 vaccinations.

The School of Nursing launched two vaccination delivery programs in March that provide vaccines to underserved Austin communities. The two programs, Vaccine Administration Mobile Operations (VAMOS), which is co-sponsored by Whole Communities–Whole Health, and Vaccinate, No Waste (VaxNow), were created by people working in vaccine operations after they realized some Austin communities could not access UT’s mass vaccination hub.

Karen Johnson, who is a public health nurse, an associate professor in the School of Nursing and a Whole Communities–Whole Health researcher, says she felt powerless to do anything to help amid the pandemic as patients were overflowing critical care units. So when she got the email about the vaccine, she was the first to sign up to volunteer.

Natural environments seldom follow political borders. While sometimes arbitrary lines on a map separate states, natural environments shape the way people live. Mexican American and Latino/a Studies Assistant Professor C.J. Alvarez explores the identities of what he calls “desert dwellers” and how the Chihuahuan shapes and defines them.

Borders today are understood as political demarcations that separate states and nation-states. But, sometimes, we share more in common with the people beyond these arbitrary lines than we think.

Using publicly available data, researchers in the Cockrell School of Engineering and Whole Communities–Whole Health have quantified the many ways day-to-day activity has changed since the pandemic began, including real estate activity, traffic, retail spending and job postings.