AEESP 2027 Conference: RFP Deadline (9/22) for Sessions, Symposium Workshops

**RFP Deadline for Proposals for Sessions, Workshops, and Symposiums: September 22, 2026**

Email your proposal as a PDF or questions to aeesp2027-Workshops@utlists.utexas.edu to the attention of the Symposia, Workshops & Sessions Committee co-chairs: Xavier Fonoll Almansa (UT Austin) and Qilin Li (Rice University).

The Texas Two-Step: Partnering for Impact Through Industry and Community Connections

The AEESP 2027 Conference Committee is accepting proposal submissions for technical sessions, symposia, and workshops for the 2027 AEESP Conference until September 22, 2026. Our theme, “The Texas Two-Step,” centers on industry–community–academic partnerships that turn research into real-world impact and pedagogy. We welcome proposals from faculty, students and postdocs, practitioners, community organizations, and industry—especially from teams that bring these groups together.

1. The Conference Theme

Our theme, “The Texas Two-Step: Partnering for Impact Through Industry and Community Connections,” centers on the partnerships, among academia, industry, and communities, that turn environmental engineering and science research into real-world impact and into the next generation of pedagogy. Texas offers a living laboratory for these challenges: water reuse and desalination, the water and energy footprint of data centers and the AI boom, critical-minerals development, cumulative impacts in industrial corridors, wildfire and source-water protection, and more. We invite proposals that use these and other challenges to model partnership strategies that are transferable nationally and internationally.

2. What We Are Soliciting

We seek three formats:

• Workshops: Interactive, participatory sessions producing a tangible outcome.
• Individual Sessions: A set of multiple talks on one topic that has a duration of 1.5 hours.
• Themed Symposia: A set of multiple talks on one topic that has a duration of 3 hours.

Across all formats we want a deliberate mix of on-theme work (industry–community–academic partnerships), traditional AEESP areas (research, pedagogy, professional development, stakeholder engagement), and innovative / frontier work connecting to public health, other engineering fields, agricultural sciences, business, statistics, psychology, science communication and beyond. The conference theme centers on industry–community–academic partnerships that turn research into real-world impact and pedagogy. Therefore, we welcome proposals that bring these groups together. Examples of areas of interest for AEESP are listed below, but we welcome other topics that are aligned to theme of the conference.

• AI for Environmental Engineers
• AI Environmental Consequences
• Critical Minerals
• Circular Economy
• Quantum Computation and Quantum Sensing
• Biotechnology at the Forefront of Environmental Engineering & Science
• Wildfire & Source-Water Impacts
• Resource Recovery
• Pedagogy
• Community Engagement
• Science Communication

3. Eligibility

Proposals should be submitted by a team. The team can be formed by faculty, students, postdocs, practitioners, community organizations, and industry. It is mandatory that each team has at least one student or postdoc. Many students are anxious to participate; you can reach out to aeesp2027-studentactivities@utlists.utexas.edu to identify a volunteer student/postdoc for your team.

4. Proposal Requirements

Every proposal must include:

• format (e.g., panel, invited or contributed talks, training, breakouts);
• intended audience;
• organizers and suggested speakers/panelists;
• interactive components (for workshops and symposia only);
• expected outcomes/impact for attendees;
• alignment with conference themes or a traditional AEESP area; or an explanation of how it extends the field;
• a student or postdoc in the organization team.

4.1. Proposal Requirements for Technical Sessions

Each session should be planned for approximately 1.5 hours. We suggest one of two formats: four talks of 15 minutes each (including Q&A) plus a 25-minute keynote (including Q&A), or six talks of 15 minutes each (including Q&A). If a session is selected for the conference, the organizers may decide, after reviewing the submitted abstracts, to replace one of the talks with a block of short poster-pitch talks.

4.2. Proposal Requirements for Symposia

This will be similar to the technical sessions, but it should be prepared for approximately 3 hours. We suggest that the symposium has a keynote talk of 30 min (including Q&A) and seven talks of 20 min (including Q&A) each. If a symposium is selected for the conference, the organizers may decide, after reviewing the submitted abstracts, to replace one of the talks with a block of short poster-pitch talks.

4.3. Proposal Requirements for Workshops

Workshops must include at least one of three goals – an education goal, a research goal, an industry/academic engagement goal – with each addressed goal written as an observable output with a measurement approach; proposals missing any portion of this requirement will not be considered. Each workshop will deliver a 4–6 page white paper within 90 days of the conference, which will be compiled into the open-access AEESP 2027 Workshop Proceedings. Workshop sessions can be recorded and AI-transcribed.

4.4 EES Special Issue

Strong workshop white papers will be invited to the planned EES special issue, “Engineering and Science Solutions for the Water-Resource-AI Nexus.” Session and symposium organizers are also invited to prepare a summary or perspective paper or invite particular presenters to prepare a technical paper for consideration in the EES special issue.

5. How Proposals Will Be Reviewed

The Symposia, Workshops & Sessions Committee will review all proposals against the criteria below, with attention to overall balance across topics and formats.

6. Timeline and Key Dates

A six-week window, decisions ~4 weeks after close, then a two-week confirmation window. Exact dates confirmed at launch.

7. How to Submit and Contact

Email your proposal as a PDF or questions to aeesp2027-Workshops@utlists.utexas.edu to the attention of the Symposia, Workshops & Sessions Committee co-chairs: Xavier Fonoll Almansa (UT Austin) and Qilin Li (Rice University).

For more information about AEESP's 2027 Conference, visit our conference website at aeespconference.org.