ILWA Issues: Utah’s Energy — An interdisciplinary faculty discussion

On September 28, the Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water, and Air hosted a luncheon with faculty. The event was part of the ILWA Issues luncheon series and focused on the topic of energy in Utah, following up on a previous event that covered the same topic.

The series provides an opportunity for faculty to discuss a preselected topic in an interdisciplinary setting, and are hosted a few times per year. The conversations often create avenues for data-driven communication and feature potential solutions to Utah’s land, water, and air challenges. 

The discussion covered a range of topics around Utah’s energy, but regularly circled back to the state’s need to determine the “hows” and not the “whats” of energy development, as those have already been outlined. The need for collaboration was also stressed, with the desire to develop a new interdisciplinary energy curriculum being emphasized. 

“Our goal is to see Utah State be part of the solution to the problems,” Brian Steed, executive director of the Janet Quinney Lawson Institute for Land, Water, and Air, told faculty during the discussion. “How can we best use that engine to solve the problem we have?”

This goal will continue to be pursued through further ILWA-facilitated discussions, making sure that Utah State University is present in critical future discussions and the university’s extensive research engine is put to use as effectively as it can be.