Energy, Environment and Resources Center

EERC ~ Office of Communications and Publications

EERC makes its ongoing research in environmental and energy issues available to larger audiences through publication of numerous reports and articles. The Office of Communications and Publications, under the direction of David Brill, provides a full range of editorial services to Center staff in support of these and other outreach projects.

The communications office also oversees publication of InSites and Highlights and Initiatives, and drafts press releases and other materials promoting center activities. InSites is the quarterly newsletter of EERC affiliate, the Waste Management Research and Education Institute, and the publication reaches out to an international audience of 3,200 waste-management professionals, researchers, and regulators. Following its redesign in 1997, InSites won first place in the category "external newsletters-nonprofit" in the 1997 International Mercury Awards competition.

Highlights and Initiatives is a bimonthly, two-page publication that showcases the projects, awards, and achievements of EERC's research staff. Highlights is distributed primarily among administrators, faculty, and researchers at the University of Tennessee.

The EERC serves as the editorial home of FORUM for Applied Research and Public Policy. FORUM, under the leadership of Editor in Chief Dennis McCarthy, is a quarterly policy journal that focuses on issues of energy, environment, economic development, and science and technology. It aims to make the work of policy researchers more accessible to officials in the public and private sectors. FORUM is published jointly by the University of Tennessee's Energy, Environment, and Resources Center; Oak Ridge National Laboratory; TVA Rural Studies at The University of Kentucky; and The Rural Policy Research Institute. FORUM has won numerous national and international awards for editorial excellence.

Past efforts of the EERC's Office of Communications and Publications, under former director Daniel Schaffer, led to production of two documentary videos. Solid Solutions (1994), a 30-minute film co-sponsored by EERC and the Tennessee Valley Authority, addresses the problems of rural solid-waste management. The video has been aired on public television. Living With Lead (1995), a 60-minute film co-sponsored by EERC and The National Safety Council's Environmental Health Division, is designed to educate parents about the health risks posed by lead poisoning. It has also been aired on public television.