The societal challenges that we face with the climate crisis can only be solved if we bring together diverse expertise from across a broad range of scientific disciplines, working together to develop solutions that would be impossible for siloed investigators to achieve. RASEI carries this sense of embracing and welcoming diversity through every aspect of its community. RASEI’s commitment to attracting, retaining, and supporting students, researchers, staff, faculty, and partners to build an environment of inclusion and collaboration is integral to this mission.
If we are to build a community capable of the excellence and vision required to address the challenges associated with a clean energy transition, we must foster an environment where we are all able to grow, thrive, and be successful by engaging with diverse ideas and perspectives through a growth mindset.
RASEI acts a hub for the generation and cultivation of team approaches to scientific challenges. RASEI offers opportunities and resources for community members to effectively participate in the best practices of team science. Drawing from theory-driven principles to build effective and efficient research teams, this approach enables members to recognize and respect the differences between team members and welcome the diversity in the effort to foster integration of knowledge and new approaches in solving complex problems.
In the 18th century, the fossil fuel energy transition was not done in an equitable fashion. The scars from this remain today, with many countries left behind, and many communities impacted by pollution and poor air quality from the burning of fossil fuels even in the most developed of countries. With the transition away from fossil fuels to a renewable and sustainable energy economy means we can do things differently. Integration of energy justice perspectives, including the development of robust, reliable and affordable systems accessible for all communities, offers the opportunity to address some of the current inequalities. Incorporation of these perspectives will be greatly enhanced by building a diverse community of members that embody these ideas.
A central way in which RASEI benefits from being a joint institute is that it gathers input and feedback from both the CU Boulder and institutions on their to building diverse, inclusive and effective teams.
RASEI is committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and successful research community that considers a broad range of perspectives and cultures, and embraces far-reaching and multi-faceted discussion and investigation.
