Dr.Adrian Parr is the Dean of the College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Arlington and a UNESCO Chair of Water and Human Settlements. She joined UTA after serving as the Director of the Taft Research Center for Humanities and Chair of Taft Faculty at the University of Cincinnati. She is a trans-disciplinary scholar working at the intersection of architecture criticism, cultural sociology, political theory, and environmental studies. She has been interviewed by the New York Times for her views on climate change. She has published extensively the most recent being a trilogy: Birth of A New Earth (Columbia University Press, 2017); The Wrath of Capital: Neo liberalism and Climate Change Politics (Columbia UP, 2012); and Hijacking Sustainability (MIT Press, 2009). She is the producer, writer, and director (with Sean Hughes) of the documentary, The Intimate Realities of Water, that examines the power relations and water struggles structuring everyday life in the slums. The film was screened at the COP 21 climate talks before going onto win 13 awards at independent film festivals across the US.

Michael Zaretsky is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering in the College of Engineering with a courtesy appointment in the School of Architecture in the College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs (CAPPA) at the University of Texas at Arlington. He is the Director of the Architectural Engineering program in Civil Engineering.

Zaretsky is a licensed Architect with extensive experience in local and international design/build projects. His research is focused around culturally and environmentally responsive public interest design projects and community engagement with underserved communities locally and internationally.

He is Director of Design for the Roche Health Center in rural Tanzania, a project of Village Life Outreach Project. Roche Health Center is the first–ever permanent health care facility in this region.