Dr. Chris Hawn is with the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network and serves as their Co-Director for Research and Education. Dr. Hawn works with communities impacted by environmental racism and connects them to researchers, students, and teachers to create evidence-based advocacy and increase EJ competency in the classroom.
Prior to this role, Dr. Hawn was a professor of Geography and environmental systems at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, during which they created and critiqued participatory research to improve actionable research for EJ communities.
Dr. Hawn continues NCEJN’s legacy for finding unlikely collaborators to shift power for social justice. They founded the Spidey Sens-r project, where communities monitor air quality issues by collecting spider webs. Last year, they were honored with the Black and Green 40 Under 40 Award by the Black Millennials for Flint.