Black Leaders in Clean Energy and Cllimate

media release: The Wisconsin Energy Institute will host an online panel Tuesday featuring Black leaders from across the Midwest discussing the intersections of racial injustice and energy.

The panel of elected officials, academics and nonprofit sector leaders will share their career paths, address the history of racial injustices worsened by legacy energy systems and climate change, and the importance of Black leadership and community voices in shaping a clean energy future.

Scheduled panelists include former Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes; state Rep. Supreme Moore Omokunde, D-Milwaukee; Victor Ujor, a biofuels researcher and assistant professor at UW–Madison; Jp Jones, professor of electrical and renewable energy technology at Indian Hills Community College in Iowa; and Sandra Henry, president of Slipstream, a Madison-based nonprofit working nationally to promote equitable climate solutions.

The discussion will be moderated by Deneine Christa Powell, the FUSE Corp Executive Fellow on Climate and Equity for the City of Milwaukee’s Environmental Collaboration Office.

The online event is scheduled for 4:30 pm Tuesday, Feb. 28. For more information or to register visit go.wisc.edu/black-energy-leaders.

About the Wisconsin Energy Institute

At the Wisconsin Energy Institute, we envision a world powered by sustainable and reliable energy that is affordable and accessible to everyone. As the home of collaborative energy research at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, we connect and empower researchers to help solve one of the world’s greatest challenges: developing sustainable alternatives to meet society’s ever-growing need for power, fuels, and chemicals.