Ashish Sharma, lead of the Discovery Partners Institute Climate Hub and faculty member at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has been appointed to the Illinois Commission on Environmental Justice. The Commission brings together experts and community perspectives to help address environmental inequities across the state.
For Sharma, the appointment is an opportunity to bring climate science and environmental data into statewide conversations about environmental justice while learning directly from communities most affected by environmental risks.
“Much of my work has been at the intersection of climate science, environmental quality, infrastructure, public health, and community resilience. One lesson that has consistently emerged from this work is that the same environmental hazard can have very different consequences depending on where people live, the infrastructure around them, their level of exposure, and the resources available to prepare and respond.”
Sharma sees cumulative environmental burden as one of the biggest environmental justice challenges facing Illinois. Communities rarely experience environmental problems one at a time. Air pollution, extreme heat, flooding, transportation and freight activity, legacy industrial pollution, water and soil concerns, and aging infrastructure can overlap with socioeconomic and public-health vulnerabilities.
“An important opportunity for Illinois is to move beyond examining hazards individually and develop a more integrated understanding of where multiple environmental burdens are accumulating, how those risks are changing, and where intervention can have the greatest benefit.”
That work closely aligns with Sharma’s research at DPI and its AI + Climate research theme, which brings together high-resolution climate and weather modeling, Earth observations, environmental measurements, and socioeconomic information to study risks including extreme heat, air quality, and flooding. For example, through AerisIQ, researchers also provide high-resolution weather information across Illinois to help agencies and institutions improve decision-making.
“The Commission creates an important two-way connection. Our research can help inform statewide environmental-justice discussions, while priorities identified by communities and state agencies can help shape the questions, datasets, and decision-support tools we develop at DPI.”
Sharma hopes to contribute expertise in high-resolution environmental modeling, climate-risk assessment, environmental data, and decision-support while learning from fellow Commissioners, state agencies, local governments, and community organizations.
“Models and datasets can tell us a great deal, but they do not replace lived experience. Understanding what communities are seeing on the ground, what information they need, and where existing policies or data systems fall short is essential if science is going to be useful.”
For Sharma, the appointment is an opportunity to connect environmental science with action and help evaluate whether policies and investments are improving conditions for Illinois communities.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to serve the State of Illinois and look forward to both contributing to and learning from the Commission’s work.”