Arnold elected to prestigious national science society

Dr. Craig Anthony “Tony” Arnold, the Boehl Chair in Property and Land Use at the University of Louisville’s Brandeis School of Law, has been elected to membership in Sigma Xi, the national science research society.

Founded in 1886 at Cornell University, Sigma Xi is an international, multidisciplinary community of scientists and investigators dedicated to the practice of research excellence, the promotion of public engagement with science, and the fostering of the next generation of researchers. The society is considered among the premier associations devoted to research and has nearly 60,000 members in over 500 chapters around the world. Throughout its history, more than 200 Sigma Xi members have been awarded Nobel Prizes.

Membership is by invitation only through the nomination of new members by existing ones.

“Brandeis Law congratulates Dr. Arnold on this prestigious honor,” Melanie B. Jacobs, Brandeis School of Law Dean, said. “While most of the society’s members come strictly from the sciences, Dr. Arnold has distinguished himself by shepherding scholarship that combines the law and urban planning with the environmental sciences. We are thrilled that Sigma Xi has recognized the value of this interdisciplinary work by selecting him as a member.”

Arnold has been at the University of Louisville since 2005. In addition to holding the Boehl Chair, he is director of the law school’s Resilience Justice Project and is an Affiliated Professor of Urban Planning in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Arnold’s research and teaching are at the intersection of land use, water, the environment, public policy, evolving governance institutions and social and racial justice. His scholarly innovations have included:

• Environmental justice principles, land-use planning tools and the effects of land use on environmental justice
• Resilience justice, which addresses the inequitable vulnerabilities of communities to environmental and societal shocks and changes
• The concept of property as a web of interests
• The integration of land use and water known as “wet growth”
• Adaptive law for resilience
• Adaptive and inclusive watershed planning
• Public-interest limits on water privatization
• Equity in urban ecosystem services
• Newly emerging legal and governance institutions, described as fourth-generation environmental law

Arnold’s current research effort is funded by a multi-institutional grant of $75,000 from the National Sea Grant Law Center through NOAA’s National Coastal Resilience Fund. His Resilience Justice Project is examining coastal urban adaptation in Boston, Cleveland, Miami, New Orleans, San Diego, Savannah, Seattle and Tampa to see how these cities ensure that their climate adaptation plans are equitable and fair across all neighborhoods. Under Arnold’s direction, Resilience Justice Fellows from UofL and researchers at Georgetown University and Georgia State University are collaborating on the project.

“We are assessing plans, policies and laws affecting climate adaptation in these eight coastal urban areas with an eye towards addressing the vulnerabilities of low-income neighborhoods of color,” Arnold said. “We’ll then use our assessments to produce a guidebook of best practices and a series of webinars so that any city can use the information to make their climate adaptation planning equitable for all neighborhoods.”