Course Description for Spring 2026
Working With Communities to Implement Environmental Technology Innovations
Course Title Implementatiom of Environmental Technology
Course Number PA682GB (unique #: 63116) (graduate section)
PA 345 (unique # 63064) (undergraduate section)
Class Meetings Mondays, 6 to 9 pm, room SRH 3.350/SRH 3.316
Lead Faculty David Eaton
. Professor, LBJ School of Public Affairs
Office/Phone David Eaton: SRH 3.342; telephone: 512-471-8972; cell: 512-626-0333
E-mail eaton@austin.utexas.edu
Office Hours Tuesdays, 3pm-6 pm, in person in SRH 3.342 (LBJ School) or call via phone at 512-626-0333
Faculty Support Crystal Arteaga
Office/Phone SRH 3.3xx; telephone: 512-650=0401xxx-xxxx
E-mail crystal.arteaga@austin.utexas.edu
Faculty Salinity: Dan Sheer, dsheer@gmail.com, 410-802-5880, and
Miguel Pavon, pavonma@austin.utexas.edu, 512-779-8300
Zoom Meeting ID: 897 2298 1080; Passcode: etech
This Policy Research Project class enables students to work with communities, governments, and
private businesses in implementing four types of environmental technologies:
* salinity management along the Texas/Mexico border along the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo River (salinity);
* nitrate management in small communities, including rural water and wastewater systems (nitrates);
* biological separation methods for producing rare earth elements (REE-rare earth elements); and
* use of multiple monitoring systems to manage air quality in the El Paso del Norte air basin in
Texas and New Mexico in the USA and Chihuahua in the state of Chihuahua in Mexico (air quality).
One barrier to implementing novel environmental technologies is the challenge of moving a potential environmental ‘solution’ from the laboratory or a design to the field, to be tested in a community, industry, or other field operation,with the consent and encouragement of three types of stakeholders:
* private firms that provide/sell the technology;
* community residents who adopt the technology; and
* government regulators who seek to assure that the technology is appropriate and meets conventional regulatory standards.
Students in this class will take advantage of existing grants and contracts to promote adoption of novel environmental technologies. Class members will identify opportunities and barriers to adoption of technologies by real communitiies, private firms, and government regulators.
Course Objectives
* To familiarize students with methods for evaluating environmental technologies
* To enable students to develop skills in interviewing, convening focus groups, and survey research to identify opportunities and barriers to implementing environmental technologies in communities
* To develop and document a set of steps that will allow communities to implement environmental technologies, including: (a) seeking commercial firm bids for implementing new technologies; (b) obtaining community members’ approval for implementing the technologies; and (c) facilitating state/federal environmental regulatory agency approval for the technology. Implementation;
* To use analytical tools to assess/quantify the costs, benefits, risks and opportunities for implementing the technologies;
* To apply those tools to assess/quantify policy alternatives and work with the federal and state governments in Mexico and the USA, as appropriate, to identify policies that potential users may wish to adopt and implement;
* To help the state or national governments of Mexican and the US develop agreements to implement new technologies in communities
Signature Skills
* Prepare a narrative overview for the proposed outcomes from a project;
* Participate in discussions with clients/stakeholders to understand project expectations and intended outcomes;
* Work with diverse professionals through the research process;
* Collect, organize, and display data related to the project;
* Integrate data, qualitative and/or quantitative analysis into a discussion of policy options;
* Provide results as evidence to support proposed outcomes or recommendations;
* Draft research reports using a standard format, with thorough references;
* Develop and present both written and oral commentary for project outcomes, based on evidence;
* Understand how to prevent and respond to disagreements to enable consensus outcomes;
* Work in groups to accomplish common outcomes;
* Work as an individual with limited supervision;
* Work with professionals from outside of the university;
* Demonstrate skills in working with diverse common software (Word, Powerpoint, Excel, etc.);
* Operate from remote locations with other professionals using diverse contact software (Slack, Discord, Teams, Zoom, Skype, etc.);
* Manage data sets and acknowledge the strengths and limitations of data sources and acquisition methods;
* Prepare and deliver in an oral format information and recommendations in a professional setting; and
* Demonstrate skills in report writing, copy-editing, and pre-publication quality assurance.
Working Groups
Group 1: Salinity technologies along the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo
Group 2: Technologies for production and management of rare earth minerals using biological concentration systems
Group 3: Use of novel treatment technologies to control nitrate discharge from water and/or wastewater systems
Group 4: Application of diverse monitoring systems for improving air quality in the El Paso del Norte region
For additional information, please contact Professor Davd Eaton, eaton@austin.utexas.edu or 512-626-0333.