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Who we are
The Greater Atlanta Community Science Collaboratory is an environmentally conscious group from Atlanta community-based organizations (CBOs) Atlanta area higher education institutions (HEIs) who are addressing local-to-global issues through knowledge-sharing, problem identification, scientific collaboration, and public engagement. The Collaboratory mission and design are grounded in shared values that include equity, accountability, trust.
About us
Our Mission
“To advance equitable community-academic partnered research across the Greater Atlanta region. The Collaboratory will invest in relationships, build trust, share power and resources, ensure transparency, and foster ongoing communication and collaboration among community-based organizations and academic institutions.”
Our Long-term Goals
- Deepen and expand relationships between Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Greater Atlanta.
- Elevate the role of CBOs in shaping regional research that advances the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
- Enhance the efficacy of CBOs and HEIs in advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals, regionally and globally.
Guiding principles
- To address and transform the imbalance of power that often characterizes CBO-HEI relationships, individuals must transform their understanding and beliefs from a “service” orientation to a partnership orientation.
- Transformation requires specific and ongoing attention through training and regular communication.
- Training and sharing can develop consistency resulting in a group with an allied understanding of collaboration.
- Working towards goals that may not see concrete outcomes until five to ten years from now can be challenging. As a result, it is essential to include both short-term and long-term measures and take time to celebrate incremental advances. Balancing short-term and long-term outcomes is crucial for prosperous relationships.
- Disseminating findings and tangible outcomes for communities to own and benefit from once the research has concluded is essential.
- Improving the career prospects of community members and prioritizing and disseminating data and tangible outcomes that communities desire for overall well-being requires long-term engagement.
- There is no perfect model for CBO-HEI collaboration, so ongoing evaluation and adaptation is important.
- Processes for CBO-HEI project development should support innovation as well as a balance of power.
- Hosting professional development (PD) sessions across the network of collaborators will support this principle.
Why we're here
Our continent is facing immense challenges that intersect at the crossroads of science and society. The list includes climate change, environmental degradation, biodiversity loss, public-health preparedness, systemic disparities in housing, jobs and health outcomes. Solutions to these problems must be interdisciplinary and multifaceted. Members of the Collaboratory are committed to linking hands in this work.
Community Science is an important part of finding local solutions to global problems. Community Science is a form of research that involves members of the general public, scientists and academicians in understanding, analyzing, sharing information and acting on issues impacting our world. Community science is community-based, participatory and an important research tool.
The United Nations have identified 17 Sustainable Development Goals that are essential to meet basic human needs and sustain the planet. While research partnerships between community groups and academic institutions have stepped up to address these issues, imbalances in power and a lack of transparency have sometimes left community-based organizations or community members feeling exploited.
The Greater Atlanta Community Science Collaboratory is co-designed infrastructure to help address these imbalances and catalyze more equitable partnerships. Please consider joining and supporting our work.
“Creating an open platform for communities, CBOs, and academic partners to exchange information about their expertise, research needs, and goals should help partners find synergies and collaborate at larger scales"
“All individuals are critical to creating a just and sustainable society that puts equity at the forefront. The process of coming up with the details of the Collaboratory was as important as the Collaboratory design, in order to ensure everyone has a seat at the table."
Current Leadership Team
Darryl Haddock
Special Projects Director
West Atlanta Watershed Alliance
Carrie Keogh
Assoc. Teaching Professor
Emory University
Carla Lewis
Executive Director
ECO-Action
Na'Taki Osborne Jelks
Executive Director
West Atlanta Watershed Alliance
and Professor
Spelman College
Allen Roberts
Professor
Kennesaw State University
Christine Stauber
Professor and Associate Chair of Department of Population Health Sciences
Georgia State University
Anna Tinoco-Santiago
Community Engagement Specialist
SCoRE
Georgia Tech
Our History
The Greater Atlanta Community Science Collaboratory is the outcome of three workshops held in 2021-2022 that were funded by the Atlanta Global Research and Education Collaborative. The workshops were initiated by founding co-PIs from four Atlanta-area academic institutions, led by Rebecca Watts-Hull of Georgia Tech, in response to the suggestion from CBO partners. They identified a need for greater communication, coordination, and training to make sure academic partners are following equitable best practices for pursuing community-engaged research, and need for capacity-building for CBOs to take advantage of the many research partnerships with Atlanta-area academic institutions that may advance their action agendas.
The workshops followed a “Full Participation” model that is carried over into the Collaboratory’s core functions today. This model requires that everyone has a voice at the table, and helps ensure that the Collaboratory’s work is representative of a broad range of ideas and perspectives.
The founding members listed below participated in the workshops and meetings to design the Collaboratory’s structure and functions. Their candid and thoughtful contributions to workshop discussions and follow-up meetings were essential for the creation of this Collaboratory network.
Founding Leadership Team
““We recognized that inadequate coordination and inequities in power between higher education institutions and community based organizations often undermine the success and sustainability of community-academic partnerships. If we are to have any success in reaching the UN Sustainable Development Goals goals, we have to create a better model for collaborating”
— Rebecca Watts Hull, Georgia Tech
Darryl Haddock
Founding CBO
West Atlanta Watershed Alliance
Christina H. Fuller
Founding co-PI
Georgia State University/ University of Georgia
Carol Hunter
Founding CBO
Truly Living Well Center for Urban Agriculture
Carrie Keogh
Founding co-PI
Emory University
Carla Lewis
Founding CBO
ECO-Action
Allen Roberts
Founding co-PI
Kennesaw State University
Rebecca Watts Hull
Founding co-PI
Georgia Tech
Founding Community-Based Organization Partners
Darryl Haddock
Director of Special Projects
West Atlanta Watershed Alliance
Na'Taki Osborne Jelks
Executive Director
West Atlanta Watershed Alliance
Carla Lewis
Executive Director
ECO-Action
Founding Members and Workshop Participants
Member
Michael Black
Georgia State University
Member
Joe Bozeman
Georgia Institute of Technology
Founding CBO
Renee Cail
Citizens for a Healthy And Safe Environment
Member
Russ Clark
Georgia Institute of Technology
Member
Jacque-Corey Cormier
Georgia State University
Member
Mine Hashas Degertekin
Kennesaw State University
Member
Carl Di Salvo
Georgia Institute of Technology
Founding HEI
Christina H. Fuller
University of Georgia
Leadership team
Darryl Haddock
West Atlanta Watershed Alliance
Member
Vialla Hartsfield-Mendez
Emory University
Founding CBO
Rosario Hernandez
Historic Westside Gardens
Founding HEI
Rebecca Watts Hull
Georgia Institute of Technology
Leadership team
Carol Hunter
The Seedplanter Group
Member
Allen Hyde
Georgia Institute of Technology
Member
David M. Iwaniec
Georgia State University
Leadership team
Carrie Keogh
Emory University
Member
Erin Lebow-Skelley
Emory University
Leadership team
Carla Lewis
ECO-Action
Member
Scott Lipsit
Saskatchewan Polytechnic University
Member
Michelle Marcus
Georgia State University
Member
Richard Milligan
Georgia State University
Member
Yomi Niobi
ECO-Action
Leadership team
Na'Taki Osborne Jelks
West Atlanta Watershed Alliance, Spelman College
Member
Ashley Overton
ECO-Action
Member
Melanie Pearson
Emory University
Leadership team
Allen Roberts
Kennesaw State University
Member
Eri Saikawa
Emory University
Founding CBO
Gwen Smith
CHARRS
Member
Christine Stauber
Georgia State University
Member
Jim Taylor
RCE KwaZulu Natal
Member
Emily Weigel
Georgia Institute of Technology
Member
Monty Whitney
Morehouse College
Member
Angelique Willis
Georgia State University
Member
Roneisha Worthy
Kennesaw State University
Member
Pegah Zamani
Kennesaw State University