Planet Texas 2050 Resilience Roundtable Series

George Belliveau is Head and Professor in the Department of Language and Literacy Education at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada. His research focuses on Research-based Theatre and he has published extensively in the areas of theatre & drama education and arts-based research. His latest co-edited book Contact!Unload: Military Veterans, Trauma, and Research-based Theatre (UBC Press, 2020) explores a project with military veterans, artists and counselors. He leads the Research-based Theatre Lab at UBC, an interdisciplinary Research Excellence Cluster sponsored by the Vice-President Research Office. He is a professionally trained actor, and has participated in over 100 theatre productions as an actor, director, or playwright. He was inducted into the College of the Royal Society of Canada (2017).

Jennifer Chenoweth has a background is in visual art and the humanities. She makes contemporary artworks in any material that fits the idea, from drawings to large sculpture to social practice collaborations. Her recent project the XYZ Atlas mapped how we experience belonging, which culminated in a TEDMED talk released in 2018. She now works for the City of Austin, Texas, curating the Oakwood Cemetery Chapel to consider the purpose of our lives in the context of a historic cemetery.

Edward González-Tennant earned his PhD in 2011 from the University of Florida. His research focuses on the application of digital technologies in archaeology and history, a transdisciplinary approach combining geographic information systems (GIS), 3D modeling, geophysics, and remote sensing. The use of these technologies allows Dr. González-Tennant to investigate the legacies of racial violence in African American history, how to decolonize collaborative archaeology in the Caribbean, and modeling the impacts of storm surge and sea level rise on heritage resources in rural locations. This work is possible because of a firm commitment to partnering with descendant communities, their allies, and the public.

mónica teresa ortiz is a poet and freelance writer born and raised in Texas. Currently, ortiz is a journalist in residence with the Freedomways Reporting Project, an artist in residence with UT Austin's Planet Texas 2050 initiative, and a Texas Folklife Community fellow. Their work has been published in the Coffee House Writer's Project, Scalawag Magazine, Annulet, The Thinking Republic, and is forthcoming in Hayden's Ferry Review. 

Adam Rabinowitz is an Associate Professor in the Department of Classics, the Acting Director of the Institute of Classical Archaeology, and a founding member and current Faculty Chair (2021-22) of the Theme Organizing Committee of the Planet Texas 2050 Grand Challenge. He is an active field archaeologist with a current project at the Greek and Roman site of Histria in Romania, with interests including ancient colonization and the archaeology of food and drink. With colleagues in Geosciences, Geography, and Integrative Biology, he is one of the leaders of the Stories of Ancient Resilience flagship.

Everest Pipkin is a writer, game developer and software artist from Central Texas whose work follows themes of ecology, information theory, and system collapse. As an artist and as a theorist, they fundamentally believe in the liberatory capacity of care; care not as an abstract emotion but rather as a powerful force that motivates collective work towards a better world. 
They hold a BFA from University of Texas at Austin, an MFA from Carnegie Mellon University, and live and work in southern New Mexico. They have shown and spoken at The Design Museum of London, The Texas Biennial, The XXI Triennale of Milan, The Photographers Gallery of London, Center for Land Use Interpretation, and other spaces. When not at the computer in the heat of the day, you can find them in the hills spending time with their neighbors— both human and non-human. 

Hannah Chalew is an artist, educator and environmental activist raised and currently working in New Orleans. Her artwork explores what it means to live in a time of global warming with a collective uncertain future, and specifically what that means for those of us living in Southern Louisiana. Her practice explores the historical legacies that got us here to help imagine new possibilities for a livable future. She received her BA from Brandeis University in 2009, and her MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2016. Chalew has exhibited widely around New Orleans and has shown around the country at the Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis, MO; Wave Hill Public Garden and Cultural Center, Bronx, NY; Minnesota Center for the Book Arts, Minneapolis, MN; Dieu Donné, New York, NY; Asheville Museum of Art, Asheville, NC, and other venues. Her work is held in the collections of the City of New Orleans and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. 

Christopher Lin is a Brooklyn-based artist and educator with a background in research science. Fueled by a lifelong obsession with fossils, his experimental installations, sculptures, and performances question the world we inhabit and envision the one we will leave behind. 
After receiving a BA from Yale University and an MFA from Hunter College, Lin was awarded the C12 Emerging Artist Fellowship in 2016. He has shown work and performed throughout New York City, including at: SVA Curatorial Practice, ABC No Rio, Recess Art, Flux Factory and the Queens Museum. He was a 2020 fellow in the Bronx Museum AIM Emerging Artist Fellowship and in 2022 he will be a Winter Workspace Resident Artist at Wave Hill. He currently teaches undergraduates at Hunter College and is co-director of the research-based artist collective, Sprechgesang Institute. 

Paola Passalacqua is an Associate Professor of Environmental and Water Resources Engineering in the Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Texas at Austin. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Genoa, Italy, with a BS (2002) in Environmental Engineering, and received a MS (2005) and a PhD (2009) in Civil Engineering from the University of Minnesota. Her research interests include network and deltaic systems, lidar and satellite imagery analysis, multi-scale analysis of hydrological processes, and quantitative analysis and modeling of landscape forming processes. At the University of Texas at Austin, she teaches undergraduate courses in Hydraulics and Hydrology, and a graduate course in Stochastic Hydrology. Dr. Passalacqua has been honored with the National Science Foundation CAREER Award (2014) and several teaching awards including the Dean's Award for Outstanding Teaching by an Assistant Professor (2015) and the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP) Award for Outstanding Teaching in Environmental Engineering and Science (2016). 

Frances Acuña is the Climate Resilience Lead Organizer for Go Austin/Vamos Austin (GAVA). She has lived in southeast Austin for 25 years. She began advocating for the Dove Springs community in 2010 and in 2012, she became a Texas Certified Community Healthworker and started getting involved with GAVA as a community leader. She also worked with fellow community members serving as first responders during the October 2013 and 2015 floods in Dove Springs. In 2017, Frances joined GAVA as a Community Organizer where she worked to increase access to healthy food and physical activity. Later, with continued floods and residents being displaced due to flooding and infrastructure issues, she became the Climate Resilience Lead Organizer where she concentrates her efforts bridging the communication gap between residents and stakeholders, emphasizing response and responsibility where equity and public safety is a mutual priority. When she is not spending her time in the community organizing or meeting with stakeholders, you can find her in her garden or spending time with her family.

Katherine Lieberknecht is an assistant professor in the School of Architecture at The University of Texas at Austin. She researches urban water resources planning, metropolitan-scaled green infrastructure planning, and urban climate planning. Dr. Lieberknecht teaches courses on sustainable land use planning, water resources planning, and urban ecology. Prior to joining the faculty, she worked in regional land conservation. She received her Bachelor of Science in Biology from the College of William and Mary, a Master in Environmental Management from Yale University, and a Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from Cornell University. Dr. Lieberknecht was the inaugural chair of Planet Texas 2050, The University of Texas at Austin's first grand challenge research program. She is the faculty lead for the Texas Metro Observatory, a Planet Texas 2050 research project and co-lead for the Planet Texas 2050 Flagship Project Equitable and Regenerative Cities in a Post-Carbon Future.