Mary D. Willis (@marydwillis) — Bluesky Profile

3 months ago

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@marydwillis.bsky.social and I published a paper published today in Environmental Research Letters! iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1... We found that about 46.6 million people in the US, or about 14.1% of the US population, live within a mile of a piece of energy infrastructure. Why do we care? 🛟 |💡🔌

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3 months ago

"Our results represent a substantial population in the U.S. that is potentially exposed to hazards that are not well-characterized, with unknown cumulative impacts, and which constitute a major environmental justice issue."

Wow, it's like ... racism ... but almost ... *systemic* ...

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3 months ago

New Study: Nearly 47 Million Americans Live Within a Mile of Fossil Fuel Infrastructure
This is the first study to examine populations living near fossil fuel infrastructure across all stages of the supply chain.

NEW STUDY: More than 14% of people in the contiguous United States reside within a mile of at least one piece of #FossilFuel infrastructure. Authors: @jjbuonocore.bsky.social & @marydwillis.bsky.social. @bostonu.bsky.social

Story: www.bu.edu/igs/2025/11/...

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9 months ago

On a day when all research grants at Harvard were terminated, and in a context where Congress seems to broadly accept the notion that destroying science and health research in the US is fine, it’s worth noting that this is not what the public wants.

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10 months ago

How Trump’s love for crypto threatens US residents’ peace: ‘I just want quiet’ Cryptocurrency mining facilities can blanket towns with ‘constant’ noise. They’re likely to get louder under Trump

Excited to be quoted in @theguardian.com on the complex impacts of #crypto mines for local communities! If you're curious about this topic, check out this thoughtful article by Niamh Rowe - bonus discussion about our team's emerging research in this space.

www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

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10 months ago

📣 Call for Travel Award Reviewers 📣

If you did not submit an app, you are eligible to review and help make #ISESISEE2025 a success! 😄

Email us at travelawards@iseepi.org with the subject "ISEE Travel Award Reviewer". Thank you in advance for your help! 🥰

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10 months ago

There's no energy policy left in the U.S. - literally none, everything was repealed in the EO on April 9.

Our new #openaccess pub synthesizes the science on why the proliferation of fossil fuels is bad news for society, including health & justice.

academic.oup.com/oocc/article...

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10 months ago

Top Scientists Issue Urgent Warning on Fossil Fuels In a new review, Mary Willis, Jonathan Buonocore, and other environmental health experts detail how fossil fuels are harmful to humans, wildlife, and the environment, and identify ways to transition t...

www.bu.edu/sph/news/art...

If you don't want to read the whole paper by @marydwillis.bsky.social, @naomioreskes.bsky.social , myself, and many others...

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11 months ago

Hands Off Protest in the Boston Common

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11 months ago

NIH_since_1_20_25

The indirect cost issue has moved to the background for the moment, but it will be back.

Here is a short thread about indirect costs. I have posted a Powerpoint deck with these slides in the Miscellaneous Materials folder on jeremymberg.github.io/jeremyberg.g...

1/n

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11 months ago

Scientists’ warning on fossil fuels Abstract. The evidence is clear that fossil fuels—and the fossil fuel industry and its enablers—are driving a multitude of interlinked crises that jeopardi

I'm really happy to have been a part of this, with @marydwillis.bsky.social @naomioreskes.bsky.social and a whole bunch of other people that aren't on here yet (sorry if you are and I can't find you!) academic.oup.com/oocc/article...

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11 months ago

Check out our latest paper on the societal harms of fossil fuels - this narrative review covers the science from a wide range of domains including public health, environmental justice, wildlife diversity, and petrochemical pollution ⬇️

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11 months ago

🚨 Scientists: If your NIH grant was terminated like all of mine, help us uncover why 👇👇👇

We've been monitoring terminations from the start & are now diving into the data 🔍

Your research is crucial for health & a thriving democracy! ✊

#HealthEquity #MedSky #PublicHealth #NIH #Autocracy #Democracy

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11 months ago

Federal immigration authorities detain Tufts graduate student - The Boston Globe In an email Tuesday night, Tufts University President Sunil Kumar said the school received reports that the student was taken into custody outside an off-campus apartment building in Somerville.

Federal immigration authorities late Tuesday detained a Tufts PhD student who is a Turkish national, her attorney and community activists said.

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11 months ago

Jay Bhattacharya’s confirmation is done. 53-47 on party lines. Senate Democrats did not use maximal obstruction to slow it.

No matter. It’s now in the past. We fight the next fight.

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11 months ago

West Roxbury -> South End. There are so many missed opportunities with a relatively low cost that could yield much better public transit on each end of this trip!

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11 months ago

There are days in life that shake you.

I’m shattered 💔 to share that I just found out that the US Government terminated my 2024 NIH Director’s Early Independence Award (~$2 million), threatening my long-promised assistant professor job at Columbia University
& academic career... 1/🧵

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11 months ago

The #NIH termination notice stated that "this award no longer effectuates agency priorities" & that research programs based on "amorphous equity objectives" are considered "antithetical to scientific inquiry."🪡

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11 months ago

🧵Yesterday, I received notice that my #NIH grant, on the social environment, lifecourse, epigenetics & #birthoutcomes in Black families, was terminated. This grant represented a critical effort to address the ⬆️ rates of maternal & infant mortality in the US, particularly among Black mothers & babies

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11 months ago

Screenshot from EO at https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/improving-education-outcomes-by-empowering-parents-states-and-communities/ :

“The Department of Education currently manages a student loan debt portfolio of more than $1.6 trillion. This means the Federal student aid program is roughly the size of one of the Nation's largest banks, Wells Fargo. But although Wells Fargo has more than 200,000 employees, the Department of Education has fewer than 1,500 in its Office of Federal Student Aid.”

When you unintentionally highlight how efficient the U.S. Department of Education’s Federal Student Aid office is

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11 months ago

Trump and Musk are going after Columbia for "antisemitism" and Hopkins for "DEI" and Penn for "trans spts".

Why those issues?

Because this is the start of an authoritarian soft takeover of ALL universities.

Those issues are just politically convenient because they draw some support from Dems. 1/

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11 months ago

The NIH’s Grant Terminations Are ‘Utter and Complete Chaos’ The Trump administration is rapidly canceling hundreds of grants, in the most aggressive attack yet on American science.

Grateful to @katherinejwu.com of @theatlantic.com for being responsive, thorough, and reflective when I asked if she'd tackle this story!

In the hours since publication, however, our work has entirely changed...

1/🧵

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11 months ago

RFK Jr. promised under oath not to undermine vaccine access.

I talked with @theatlantic.com about the many ways he has broken that promise -- including his efforts to undermine vaccine promotion research -- during his first month as HHS Secretary.

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1 year ago

I'm just a small-town professor. I'll never be a provost or chancellor. But here's some free advice: we're about to hold the most watched college sports event in 🇺🇸. Every college president should be all over TV, at every game, explaining why the March Madness of federal budget cuts is a huge crisis.

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1 year ago

EHP's website is working for me! Hopefully just a brief outage that you experienced...

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1 year ago

A high resolution multipollutant assessment of health damages due to the onroad sector in Boston, Massachusetts Onroad vehicular emissions can adversely affect the health of people both near-road and regionally through exposure to O3, NO2, and PM2.5. While multi…

Our new paper out in STOTEN (with @marydwillis.bsky.social, @jonlevybu.bsky.social + many others) shows ~342 deaths per year due to air pollution from vehicle air pollution around Boston. The biggest driver of impacts? SUVs and other light duty trucks. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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1 year ago

COALITION OF MAYORS ACROSS U.S. FILE AMICUS BRIEF IN OPPOSITION TO TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S DRASTIC CUTS TO FEDERAL RESEARCH FUNDING
Led by the City of Boston, MA, City of Cleveland, OH, the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, TN, the Mayor of Gainesville, FL, and the Mayor of Salt Lake City, UT, over 40 mayors, cities, and counties argue that NIH cuts will cause job losses, economic disruption, and undermine U.S. competitiveness

BOSTON - Thursday, February 20, 2025 - Late yesterday, Mayor Michelle Wu co-led a coalition of Mayors from across the United States in writing and filing an amicus brief in federal district court in Boston to stop the Trump Administration's drastic and illegal cuts to federal research funding and immediate job losses in cities nationwide. Over 40 mayors, cities, and counties from across the country joined the brief. These cities are home to universities and hospitals that employ hundreds of thousands of Americans in cutting edge medical and scientific research, and the federally-funded research in these communities has made the United States the global leader in scientific discovery. The brief seeks a temporary restraining order against the Trump Administration, alongside the research universities, medical schools, hospitals, and 22 states that are plaintiffs in the three cases filed last week in federal district court.

“For decades, Congress has made a clear choice to use federally-funded research to invest in cities, build a broadly-distributed infrastructure for scientific discovery, create jobs, and drive economic growth in communities across the United States,” said Mayor Michelle Wu. “We join with cities across the country – in red states, purple states, and blue states – to stop this illegal action that will cause layoffs, lab closures, and undermine scientific progress in American cities. I thank Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell for her leadership on behalf of the research institutions of Boston.”

This amicus brief is in response to the abrupt February 7, 2025 announcement by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) of an immediate reduction in funding for scientific and medical research institutions across the country. Under the NIH’s new policy, which temporarily went into effect on Monday, February 10, payments for indirect costs reimbursed to research universities would be capped at 15%, down from 30-70%. The brief makes clear that NIH funding cuts would devastate research institutions in cities across the county, cause job losses, create severe economic disruption, and undermine a critical pillar of strength and civic pride in cities across the United States. The cuts would also undermine critical medical and scientific research that residents are counting on, including cancer, diabetes, and heart disease, and jeopardize the cities’ and country’s position of global leadership on scientific advancement.
“The Gainesville community depends on this highly efficient, dependable investment of our tax dollars back into our city’s innovation economy,” said Harvey L. Ward, Mayor, City of Gainesville, Florida. “I’m glad to join other mayors in highlighting the vital role NIH funding plays in the lives of everyday hardworking American families.”
“The breadth and diversity of this coalition highlights the devastating and widespread impact of these NIH funding changes, from Alzheimer’s research to cancer clinical trials,” said Jill Habig, Founder and CEO of Public Rights Project. “We’re proud to partner with mayors, cities, and counties in opposing this threat to critical federal funding and the health and vitality of our communities.”
On Monday, February 10th, twenty two states and associations of medical schools, hospitals, and universities, filed three related cases, and secured a temporary restraining order preventing the Trump Administration from slashing the reimbursement rates. That initial order will be revisited this week in a hearing scheduled for Feb. 21.

The Public Rights Project served as amici counsel. The full list of mayors, cities and counties who joined the brief is below.

Local Governments and Mayors

City of Boston, Massachusetts
City of Cleveland, Ohio
Harvey L. Ward, Mayor, City of Gainesville, Florida
Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee
Erin Mendenhall, Mayor, City of Salt Lake City, Utah
City of Alameda, California
City of Albuquerque, New Mexico
Allegheny County, Pennsylvania
City of Baltimore, Maryland
Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, Mayor, City of Burlington, Vermont
Township of Canton, Michigan
Town of Chapel Hill, North Carolina
City of Chicago, Illinois
Sandra Welch, Mayor, City of Coconut Creek, Florida
City of Columbus, Ohio
City of Easthampton, Massachusetts
Daniel Biss, Mayor, City of Evanston, Illinois
City of Fairfax, Virginia
Harris County, Texas
Ravinder S. Bhalla, Mayor, City of Hoboken, New Jersey
Quinton Lucas, Mayor, Kansas City, Missouri
Indya Kincannon, Mayor, City of Knoxville, Tennessee
City of Madison, Wisconsin
Jeff Silvestrini, Mayor, City of Millcreek, Utah
Anissa Welch, Mayor, City of Milton, Wisconsin
Montgomery County, Maryland
City of New Haven, Connecticut
Dontae Payne, Mayor, City of Olympia, Washington
Adrian O. Mapp, Mayor, City of Plainfield, New Jersey
Sue Noack, Mayor, City of Pleasant Hill, California
City of Pittsburgh and Ed Gainey, Mayor, City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
City of Providence, Rhode Island
John Clark, Mayor, Town of Ridgway, Colorado
City of Rochester, New York
City of Sacramento, California
City and County of San Francisco, California
City of Santa Monica, California
Constantine H. Kutteh, Mayor, City of Statesville, North Carolina
Lisa Brown, Mayor, City of Spokane, Washington
Tishaura O. Jones, Mayor, City of St. Louis, Missouri
City of St. Paul, Minnesota
Dennis R. McBride, Mayor, City of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin

The City of Boston is leading 40+ mayors, cities, and counties in an amicus brief against the Trump Administration's drastic and illegal cuts to federal research funding—cuts that will lead to immediate job losses nationwide.

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1 year ago

The thing about destroying NIH is NIH’s scale in medical research just dwarfs everyone else.

For ex, in 2023 the American Cancer Society gave out $64.5 million worth of grants. Sounds big, right?
But NIH’s budget was $49 billion. With a B.

Kill NIH and the floor drops out of US science.

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1 year ago

Maria Glymour on LinkedIn: Building on 90 Years of Progress: Approaches to Increase Efficiency of… #NIH #HealthResearch #Efficiency #Government

I'm frustrated with the messaging that indiscriminate firings at NIH and proposed decimation of research via changes to indirect rates are about increasing efficiency. Here are some thoughts on how to actually increase returns to NIH investments. shorturl.at/KnWU9

#EpiSky #ScienceSky

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