SPH: Is there a particular moment or issue that you can point to as marking when your understanding of environmental justice first shifted into focus?

Williams: I took my first sociology class as a senior in high school and had previously attended the NC State University Women in the Environment Conference where I was introduced to environmental justice as defined by Dr. Dorceta Taylor, a huge environmental advocate. Having that foundation when my class discussed homelessness, I was thinking about neighborhood placement, I was thinking about redlining, I was thinking about access to healthcare and everything else. Around that time, I came across the concept of environmental racism as well. Homelessness became the first issue where I consciously asked, how can I turn this into an environmental justice-focused conversation?

SPH: Was homelessness prevalent where you grew up?

Williams: I was born in Southern Virginia and moved to North Carolina at around 7 years old. All of my family is there, including my grandmothers on both sides, my grandfather, cousins, aunties, uncles, everybody. From my parents’ experiences, there is a lot of poverty in Southern Virginia. The most stable jobs are limited to either working in a manufacturing site or in the prison systems. There are no large grocery chains like Whole Foods, yet there are multiple jails and correctional facilities. It is literally a one-traffic-light town with a heavy law enforcement presence, and the speed limits on the highways feel intentionally low, which contributes to frequent traffic stops. The community is also predominantly Black, meaning the cumulative effects of poverty, over‑policing, and limited services primarily affect Black residents. My parents ultimately chose to leave Brunswick County because they wanted their future children to grow up in a safer environment with greater educational and economic opportunities.

I miss being close to my family, but I understand and respect my parents’ decision. By learning more about environmental justice, I have reframed my childhood perception of “a small town with not much to do” as a community experiencing food insecurity, limited healthcare access, and over‑policing. Although I have not personally experienced homelessness or incarceration, I have family members who have been in and out of jail or have faced housing instability, and my training helps me better understand how these structural conditions affect the people I love.

SPH: How do you feel your undergraduate experiences, such as conducting research for NASA, prepared you for your doctoral studies?

Williams: Attending Spelman, an all-women’s HBCU, deeply influenced my interests and my decision to pursue a PhD. Mentors such as Dr. Cynthia Neal Spence and Dr. Fatemeh Shafiei modeled what rigorous, justice-centered scholarship looks like and encouraged me to see myself as a researcher. It gave me an explicitly interdisciplinary mindset, grounded in both environmental science and sociology, and reinforced my commitment to social justice. I see myself as a social justice-oriented researcher, and I want my work to be community-engaged and responsive to people who are most impacted by environmental hazards. That perspective has helped me think about environmental issues not only in terms of air, water, and other physical exposures but also in terms of social environments and systems that shape health. For example, when I consider air pollution, I am interested not only in respiratory outcomes but also in the mental and economic strain that arises when someone has to miss work, manage caregiving responsibilities, and navigate bills, all of which are interconnected and influence a person’s overall livelihood.

SPH: Why a PhD, and why BU?

Williams: After graduating from college, I knew I needed to pursue a path that would be both intellectually fulfilling and financially viable. At that time, a master’s degree was not feasible for me financially, but my experiences at Spelman showed me that a research career was possible and that I belonged in those spaces. As a Black woman entering research, I benefited from mentors who were very intentional about encouraging me and affirming that my perspectives, experiences, and questions were needed.

I first learned about BU at an annual conference called ABRCMS [Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students] presenting my aviation research, and I came across the Boston University biostatistics table. There, I met Jacqueline Hicks, [clinical associate professor of biostatistics,] who listened to my interests and encouraged me to apply to the BU Environmental Health PhD program. I did, I got in, and I started meeting with my advisor, Kevin Lane, [associate professor of environmental health]. I felt confident that BU would be a place where I could grow as a researcher and, at the same time, contribute to strengthening the institution’s capacity for rigorous, justice-centered environmental health work focused on communities most affected by environmental harms.

SPH: What specifically do you plan to focus on during your PhD studies?

Williams: In my PhD work, I want to focus on how systems of oppression and positionality shape environmental vulnerability. I am particularly interested in how incarceration, carceral facilities, and prisons function as sites of environmental injustice. For example, there are documented cases of prisons with contaminated drinking water, facilities built on or near landfills and former mining sites, or prisons located in close proximity to industrial facilities. Texas and other southern states have real-world problems with growing concerns about extreme heat in prisons because there is inadequate air conditioning or ventilation. Incarceration is already traumatizing as is, but I believe that being incarcerated should not strip people of their basic human rights, including the right to clean air, safe drinking water, and livable temperatures. Those conditions should be non-negotiable, even within carceral systems. My goal is to produce research that documents these conditions and helps inform policy and advocacy aimed at improving environmental conditions for incarcerated people.

SPH: How are you leveraging your Enlight fellowship this summer to prepare for your dissertation work?

Williams: This summer, I am interning at Roca, a violence-prevention organization based in Chelsea that provides intensive programming, coaching, and workforce development for high-risk young people, including youth who are court-involved, gang-affiliated, or have experienced significant trauma. Many of the young people Roca serves are navigating multiple systems at once, including criminal-legal, educational, or child welfare and are at elevated risk for both violence and poor health outcomes.

The staff at Roca bring diverse lived and professional experiences given that some are formerly incarcerated, others have backgrounds in corporate sectors, psychology, or clinical therapy, and there are also individuals with prior correctional experience. Working alongside them gives me the opportunity to hear a wide range of perspectives and to ask more grounded questions related to my research, such as which environmental health concerns feel most pressing, how I should narrow my focus, and what issues are most important to the communities directly impacted by incarceration. I see this fellowship as a way to ensure that my dissertation is informed by community priorities rather than only by academic interests.