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Paul and Jane Roberts Endowment for Excellence for the Fukushima Project

Paul and Jane Roberts Endowment for Excellence for the Fukushima Project

Fukushima and Environmental Justice

Project History

The Fukushima Project began in 2018, led by Jessica McManus Warnell, a faculty fellow of the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies and the Rex and Alice A. Martin Faculty Director of the Notre Dame Deloitte Center for Ethical Leadership (NDDCEL) at the Mendoza College of Business.

Through a grant from the Liu Institute’s Justice and Asia research cluster, McManus, a faculty member in the Department of Management & Organization whose work examines global sustainability, collaborated with Notre Dame colleagues Noriko Hanabusa, a professor of Japanese language and culture, and Kevin Walsh, an engineering professor who specializes in sustainable and resilient infrastructure. Anna Geltzer, a Notre Dame social scientist who studies biomedical science and technology, subsequently joined the project. All four are faculty fellows of the Liu Institute.

Their goal is a holistic examination of the recovery from the triple disaster of the Tōhoku Earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent nuclear disaster in Fukushima. Activities to date include faculty and student research publications and conference presentations, as well as engagement with business leaders and worker advocates in Japan and the U.S. Among other collaborators, Tim Andree ’83, former CEO of Dentsu and a member of the Liu Institute Advisory Board, has been involved since the project’s inception, engaging with students and connecting partners in the U.S. and Japan.

Since its inception, the project has included several research trips to the region with Notre Dame faculty and students focusing on resilience and recovery at the community level. McManus notes, "As environmental disasters increase in frequency and intensity around the world, it is critical for students and faculty to partner with those communities most affected."

Endowment Support

Paul Roberts, a 1971 accountancy alumnus and board chair of the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies, and his wife, Jane, established the Paul and Jane Roberts Endowment for Excellence for the Fukushima Project in March 2025. The gift supports the multidisciplinary examination of the recovery from the 2011 Fukushima triple disaster of earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown.

The Roberts gift will allow the project to expand student involvement, student-faculty collaborative writing, and partnership building. Specifically, McManus intends to develop a new course that will integrate academic content with site work, invite visiting lecturers to share the issues of community and economic recovery in the wake of environmental disasters with the Notre Dame community, establish internships with partner businesses in Fukushima, and co-sponsor events with professional societies that are relevant to the goals of the project.

Read the press release