According to Quindara…

African Americans have endured the hardships of racial injustice and discrimination.  Racial segregation and discriminatory practices against African Americans has damaged the black community and limited expansion from urban neighborhoods to suburban areas. In turn, the resulting residential discrimination has made it possible to expose African American and other communities to conditions of environmental degradation. The phenomenon of environmental racism or the social and environmental policies that enable the inhumane dumping of hazardous and toxic materials in communities is explored in this paper. This social injustice is all encompassing and includes, but is not limited to the placement of hazardous waste facilities, nuclear waste, and presence of toxins in the air, incinerators, and unregulated sewer deposits into drinking water supplies. Another goal is to understand the efforts of the federal government to combat this problem through the activities of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Quindara Lazenbury, 2011 ASPIRE President, presented her second McNair research project this summer.  Working with Dr. Benigno Aguirre in Sociology, Quindara is continuing her exploration of social justice issues.  We look forward to learning more about her current work which might help to inspire younger students to consider careers in science and science education.