September 9, 2026 

Notre Dame’s Just Transformations to Sustainability (JTS) Initiative is a university-wide effort to build a sustainable future where people and nature flourish together. Grounded in the best available science and foundational ideas of integral ecology, we translate sustainability research and education into transformative global action. This academic year, JTS is excited to welcome a new cohort of postdoctoral fellows and expand our support of Notre Dame students interested in advancing sustainability through their coursework and extracurricular activities.    

Through our monthly newsletter, we will share updates on our progress and opportunities to get involved in our work through on-campus events; grant funding; and JTS programs spanning research, education, and action.

In May, 17 Notre Dame undergraduates traveled to the Borgo Laudato si’ at the Gardens of the Pontifical Villas in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, to participate in an immersive course on the principles of  integral ecology. Throughout the week, students examined current sustainability challenges through the lens of integral ecology rooted in hope and justice.The course was co-taught by Rev. Daniel G. Groody, C.S.C., Vice President and Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education and Professor of Theology and Arun Agrawal, director of the Just Transformations to Sustainability Initiative and Pulte Family Professor of Development Policy. 

Applications are open for Summer 2027!

During this one-credit, one-week course in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, students will experience embodied learning that challenges them to understand and live according to Pope Francis’s vision of an integral ecology.

The JTS Initiative is excited to welcome nine postdoctoral fellows to the Notre Dame community. These interdisciplinary scholars will contribute to numerous research programs supported by JTS in collaboration with faculty from five of Notre Dame’s colleges and schools. JTS supports a cohort-based model of collaboration, peer-to-peer learning, and professional development for postdoctoral fellows to train the next generation of sustainability scholars as leaders of transdisciplinary research and contribute to the long-term formation of communities of practice. 

Notre Dame Seminars on Sustainability - Sera Young on “Making Water Insecurity Visible: The Water Insecurity Experiences Scales”

Friday, September 11th

11:00 a.m. - noon

129 DeBartolo Hall

As water-related crises intensify worldwide, the lack of high-resolution, comparable global data has hindered our ability to address their impact on human health. In this talk, Dr. Sera Young, Professor of Anthropology and co-Director for the Center for Water at Northwestern University, discusses the development of the Water InSecurity Experiences (WISE) Scales, providing the first cross-country equivalent tool for measuring water access across more than 85 nations. 

This is an in-person, free, and non-ticketed event. We invite all attendees to stay afterward for lunch, conversation, and fellowship. 

Wednesday, September 30th

4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

McKenna Hall 215/216

Join the JTS Initiative as we celebrate the first cohort of Sustainability in Action Fellows with a dynamic Symposium celebrating undergraduate student leadership, innovation, and hands-on environmental stewardship. Through a series of three-minute lightning talks, each fellow will share key insights from their summer experiences to highlight how their work put the JTS Initiative’s mission and guiding principles into action.

Are you a student interested in Sustainability research and practice? At the Symposium, you can learn more about the Sustainability in Action Fellowship program, meet the undergraduate fellows and interact with other students who are contributing to the growing sustainability network on campus.

Thursday, September 17th

12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.

C103 Hesburgh Center for International Studies

The rush for AI data center construction is increasing the already growing rush for critical minerals. As a result, data centers not only raise social, economic, and environmental questions for the local areas where they are built, they raise dire questions for the areas in the Global South where materials necessary for their advanced technology are mined. This panel will examine this complex dynamic with a conversation about data center advocacy in the Michiana region, recent Catholic teaching on AI ethics and data centers, particularly in Pope Leo XIV’s Magnifica Humanitas, and realities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo related to critical minerals and violent conflict.

Panelist include:

Casear Montevecchio, Assistant Director, Catholic Peacebuilding Network (Moderator)

Ryan Juskus, Assistant Director of the Practice and Faculty Director of NDBridge, Institute for Social Concerns

Léocadie Lushombo, Associate Professor of Theological Ethics at the Jesuit School of Theology at the University of Santa Clara (joining via Zoom)

Chloe Noel, Policy Advisor, Environmental Justice and Climate Change, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Hannah Legatzke

Hannah Legatzke joined the JTS Initiative in June as a Program Manager. In her role, Hannah supports action-oriented sustainability research across the research lifecycle and facilitates interdisciplinary collaboration among JTS Initiative networks. She works particularly closely with the Midwest Sustainability Platform for Research and Curricular Innovation and the Sustainability Postdoctoral Fellows Society. Hannah holds a PhD in Natural Resource Sciences and Management from the University of Minnesota and earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Notre Dame, where she majored in Environmental Sciences and Anthropology.

Caterina Agostini Davidson

Caterina Agostini Davidson joined the JTS Initiative in August and serves as the Global Alliance Program Manager. For the Global Alliance, developed in partnership with the Laudato si’ Center for Higher Education and the Holy See’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, she coordinates the work of an international network of researchers, educators, and practitioners working toward integral ecology and sustainability. Caterina has published on Galileo Galilei and early modern science, Renaissance cosmology and maps, and material book history. She holds a Ph.D. in Italian from Rutgers University and degrees in Classics and the History of Science from the University of Padua.

Follow the JTS Initiative on LinkedIn for news, opportunities and other updates!

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Just Transformation to Sustainability Initiative

jts@nd.edu | Notre Dame, IN 46556