Arku and Group Receive Equitable Practices in Collaboration (EPiC) Award

Research
Raphael Arku
Raphael Arku

UMass ADVANCE recently announced the winners of the 2025 Equitable Practices in Collaboration (EPiC) awards, including the Holyoke Community Energy Project group that includes Assistant Professor of Environmental Health Sciences Raphael Arku. The award recognizes groups of faculty who are leading the way in developing equitable and effective collaboration practices that foster inclusive excellence.

This year's EPiC group winners were honored by Michael Malone, vice chancellor for Research and Engagement, for their exemplary equitable collaboration practices during the ADVANCE Annual Distinguished Lecture on March 10, 2025.

The Holyoke Community Energy Project (HCEP) is committed to building a just, equitable and sustainable energy future for Holyoke through co-designed solutions that respond to residents’ energy needs, center the community’s voice and repair the legacy of environmental injustices. HCEP engages Holyoke residents through workshops on home energy use, barriers to and interest in energy alternatives, and both community solutions and city-level planning. Their equitable collaboration model, described as 'participatory convergence,' brings together “interdisciplinary specialists from UMass and community partners to produce collaborative research that is rigorous, relevant, and has reach beyond academia.”

Please join us in celebrating all the collaborators in the Holyoke Community Energy Project, led by Drs. Krista Harper, and Nicholas Caverly from the Department of Anthropology, Camille Barchers from Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning, Erin Baker in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Joseph Krupczynski from Civic Engagement and Service Learning, and Raphael Arku from Environmental Health Sciences (not shown in image).

The Holyoke Community Energy Project includes:

  • Krista Harper, Department of Anthropology, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences
  • Raphael Arku, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health and Health Sciences
  • Erin Baker, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering
  • Camille Barchers, Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences
  • Nicholas Caverly, Department of Anthropology, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences
  • Joseph Krupczynski, Department of Architecture/Civic Engagement and Service Learning, College of Humanities and Fine Arts 

To learn more about this year’s award recipients, visit the Equitable Practices in Collaboration (EPiC) award on the UMass ADVANCE website.
 

Award or honor posted in Research for Faculty , Staff , Prospective students , and Current students