Community Science: A Pathway for Advancing Environmental and Climate Justice

Sacoby Wilson

Associate Professor

University of Maryland-College Park

Sacoby Wilson is an associate professor with the Maryland Institute for Applied Environmental Health and Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Maryland-College Park. Wilson has over 15 years of experience as an environmental health scientist in the areas of exposure science, environmental justice, environmental health disparities, community-based participatory research, water quality analysis, air pollution studies, built environment, industrial animal production, climate change, community resiliency, and sustainability. He works primarily with community-based organizations to study and address environmental justice and health issues and translate research to action.

Wilson is also director of the Community Engagement, Environmental Justice and Health (CEEJH) Initiative. CEEJH focuses on providing technical assistance to communities fighting against environmental injustice and environmental health disparities in the DMV region and across the nation. Through CEEJH, Wilson is engaging communities in the Washington, DC region on environmental health issues, including exposure and health risks for individuals who fish and recreate on the Anacostia River; use of best management practices to reduce stormwater inputs in the Chesapeake Bay; air pollution and health impacts due to industrial and commuter traffic in Bladensburg, MD; built environment, environmental injustice, and vectors in West Baltimore; cumulative impacts of environmental hazards on air quality in Brandywine, MD; goods movement, industrial pollution, and environmental injustice in South Baltimore, MD; environmental justice and health issues in Buzzard Point area of Washington, DC; industrial chicken farming on Maryland’s Eastern Shore; health impact of assessment in the Sheriff Road community; and other topics. In addition, he is working with schools in the region on pipeline development efforts in the STEM+H disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, and Health).

He has worked on environmental justice issues, including ecological racism with community-based organizations through long-term community-university environmental health and justice partnerships in South Carolina and North Carolina, including the Low Country Alliance for Model Communities (LAMC) in North Charleston, South Carolina; the West End Revitalization Association (WERA) in Mebane, NC; and the Graniteville Community Coalition (GCC) in Graniteville, SC. He has provided technical assistance to REACH in Duplin County, NC; RENA in Orange County, NC; and the NC Environmental Justice Network.