People
Kay Jowers
Director
kay.jowers@duke.edu
Kay Jowers is Director for Just Environments at Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability and the Kenan Institute for Ethics. Her work focuses on analyzing state regulatory and policy approaches to addressing environmental issues and engages with environmental equity, ethics, and justice in particular. She co-directs the Environmental Justice Lab, a collaboration with the Duke Economics Department.
Before joining the Nicholas Institute, Jowers worked as an environmental attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center and the University of Denver’s Environmental Law Clinic. She holds a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a J.D. with a concentration in environmental law from Tulane University Law School, a master’s degree in environmental health sciences from the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from the University of South Carolina.
Elizabeth Christenson-Diver
Senior Research Associate
elizabeth.christenson@duke.edu
Elizabeth Christenson-Diver brings expertise linking research and policy, ensuring that our work is grounded in rigorous research and is making a real-world impact. Elizabeth informs the development of our projects and helps shape our overall research agenda.
Prior to coming to Duke, Elizabeth worked at the U.S. Department of State in the Office of Canadian Affairs as a AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow developing recommended strategy for stakeholder, Tribal, and international government engagement regarding water and other environmental issues. As Policy Advisor for the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, Elizabeth supervised the Department’s Environmental Justice Program and led the development (ongoing) of the North Carolina Flood Resiliency Blueprint engaging experts across the state.
She holds a Ph.D. and master’s degree in Environmental Sciences & Engineering from the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill where she documented water quality impacts from industrial hog operations in North Carolina. Prior research spans interdisciplinary topics including climate hazards, disparate access to water and sanitation infrastructure, disinfection in healthcare facilities, microbial water quality, and modeling sources of pollution.