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. Especially in the early 20th century and before, the natural environment typically helped shape people’s…

In Texas, change is inevitable.

In the past, changes in sea level, droughts, erosion or sedimentation, or flooding have led to the abandonment of settlements. Those ruined towns and cities bear witness to environmental changes that left them unsustainable.

You might not know it, but surveillance is happening all around us all the time. Businesses, governments, and nonstate actors are gathering information — whether it’s to sell us something on social media or screen us when we apply for a home loan. Researchers from both The University of Texas at…

Issues surrounding the ethical uses of AI make front page news all the time. In 2020, Amazon paused police use of facial recognition software because of rising criticism from civil rights activists about its tendency to misidentify Black and Hispanic people. The use of video surveillance tools to…

Maria De-Arteaga was working remotely as an investigative journalist in Madrid when she realized that data mining and machine learning could help to uncover social problems in the developing world. She was looking into a highway that Brazil had built through the Amazon rainforest to reach a port on…

Through all eras of human history, communities have confronted stresses related to climate change that have affected how and where they live. Studying past societies helps us recognize the long-term effects of these stresses — which can be hard to see in the moment—and understand how humans will…

In the future, Texas is expected to face increasing exposure to a wide range of climate-driven natural disasters — most notably deadly catastrophic flooding from hurricanes, storm surges, and extreme rain events.

It is with some sadness but also pride that I bid farewell to the leadership team of Planet Texas 2050, a UT initiative that I helped found three and a half years ago with the aim of making Texas more resilient in the face of unprecedented demographic and climate change. As I say goodbye, I reflect…

The Planet Texas 2050 theme organizing committee shows its support for the City of Austin's Climate Equity Plan. We also request that the UT Austin President’s Sustainability Steering Committee integrate climate equity-related goals and strategies into the university Sustainability Master Plan. To…