Request for Proposals: Sessions, Workshops, and Symposia

Accepting proposal submissions until August 26th, 2026

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 August 26th, 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 3.5 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. These are examples of areas of interest for AEESP 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.

4. Proposal Requirements

Every proposal must include (technical sessions exempt):

format (e.g., panel, invited or contributed talks, training, breakouts);
intended audience;
organizers and suggested speakers/panelists;
interactive components and accessibility;
expected outcomes/impact for attendees;
alignment with the conference theme 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 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.

Option A
Keynote speaker	25 min (including Q&A)
Speaker A	15 min (including Q&A)
Speaker B	15 min (including Q&A)
Speaker C	15 min (including Q&A)
Speaker D	15 min (including Q&A)

Option B
Speaker A	15 min (including Q&A)
Speaker B	15 min (including Q&A)
Speaker C	15 min (including Q&A)
Speaker D	15 min (including Q&A)
Speaker E	15 min (including Q&A)
Speaker F	15 min (including Q&A)

4.2. Proposal Requirements for Symposia

This will be similar to the technical session but it should be prepared for 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 state three goals, an education goal, a research goal, and an industry/academic engagement goal, each written as an observable output with a measurement approach; proposals missing any 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. Strong papers will be invited to the planned EES special issue, “Engineering Solutions for the Water-Resource-AI Nexus.” Session papers are also invited 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.

Criterion	What reviewers look for
Theme & program fit	Alignment with the conference theme, a traditional AEESP area, or a clear extension of the field; fit with the anchor symposia and priority areas.
Significance & novelty	Importance of the topic and what is new or timely about the proposed treatment of it.
Quality of organizers & speakers	Track record of the organizing team; strength, diversity, and confirmation status of proposed speakers/panelists.
Engagement & interactivity	Concrete interactive components and a credible plan for an engaging, accessible session.
Outcomes & impact	Clear, observable outcomes for attendees; for workshops, the strength of the three goals and the post-conference deliverable plan.
Balance & feasibility	Contribution to overall program balance across topics and formats; realistic scope for the requested slot.

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.

Milestone	Target	Notes
RFP released	July 6, 2026	Via the AEESP listserv, LinkedIn, and X.
Submission window (8-9 weeks)	August 26, 2026	Portal closes 11:59 PM EST on close date.
Decisions announced	October 7, 2026	Notifications to all submitters.
Confirmation (2 weeks)	After decisions	Organizers confirm participation and speakers.
Abstracts open	October 25, 2026	Through the centralized conference platform.

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).