Associate Professor
Urban Energy Justice Lab
School for Environment and Sustainability
University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI
treames@umich.edu
www.thegreenscholar.com
Fellowship Topic: Exploring Associations between Temperature Exposure, Housing Quality, and Health During the Winter in Energy Poor Households.
Tony G. Reames is an associate professor in the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He directs the Urban Energy Justice Lab which researches topics at the intersection of energy and equity. He is affiliated with the Center for Sustainable Systems, Energy Institute, Center for Local, State and Urban Policy, and Poverty Solutions initiative at University of Michigan. He is also a member of Scholars Strategy Network and the international Just Transition Initiative.
Dr. Reames recently took a leave of absence from his responsibilities at SEAS to serve as Principal Deputy Director for State and Community Energy Programs, and Deputy Director for Energy Justice at the U.S. Department of Energy. He led the Office of Energy Justice Policy and Analysis in the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity. In this role, he spearheaded the agency’s plan to implement President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, and was responsible for energy justice policy and analysis to ensure energy investments and benefits reached frontline communities and Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color. He deployed $16 billion in support of energy efficiency measures and clean energy planning, aiding communities that bear the worst impacts of the climate crisis. Dr. Reames returns to SEAS in January 2024 as the new director of the SEAS Detroit Sustainability Clinic, and will resume teaching and advising in September.
Tony conducts research in the emerging field of energy justice investigating fair and equitable access to affordable, reliable, and clean energy technology. His research employs energy analysis, geographic information systems (GIS), and policy analysis to understand the production and persistence of spatial, racial, and socioeconomic disparities in urban residential energy dynamics and impacts on health and well-being. Tony is a member of the Heat Waves, Housing and Health (HHH) Steering Committee, a partnership between an interdisciplinary team of academics and leaders of five Detroit-based nonprofits to conduct community-based participatory research (CBPR) around the intersection of heat, housing, and health. He is also a part of the Detroit Community-Academic Urban Research Center (Detroit URC) Community Action Research Network (CAR-Net).
Tony has a PhD in public administration from the University of Kansas, a Masters in engineering management from Kansas State University, and a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University.