In Gratitude

The Backward River reflects the support, contribution and consultation of many people. We take full responsibility for any of its missteps while expressing gratitude to the following:

Funders

• University of Illinois Presidential Initiative: Expanding the Impact of the Arts and the Humanities
• Humanities in a Changing Climate Grant, Hydrologies of the Anthropocene: Social Flows and Engineered Watersheds in the Great Lakes Basin
• Humanities Without Walls, funded by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and based at the Humanities Research Institute
• UIC Creative Activity Grant
• Institute for the Humanities at UIC
• UIC Liberal Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Research Initiative
• Latin@s Gaining Access to Networks for Advancement in Science at UIC
• Freshwater Future Capacity Building Grant

Collaborators

• Samer Alatout, Vilas Associate Professor of Community and Environmental Sociology, University of Wisconsin, Madison
• Jordan Bailly, UIC Freshwater Lab land use and planning expert
• Carol Ross Barney, Founder and Principal, Ross Barney Architects
• Olga Bautista, Community Planning Manager, Alliance for the Great Lakes 
• Tony Briscoe, Journalist, ProPublica
• Stella Brown, Artist/Anthropocene Adapter
• Antoinette Burton, Maybelle Leland Swanlund Professor of History, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• Kayla Butler, Region 5, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• Benjamin Chambers, Reverend, Faith Movers Church
• Ralph Cintron, Professor of Latin American and Latino Studies and of English, Interim Director of Latin American and Latino Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago
• Drew Williams Clark, Managing Director of Urban Resilience at Center for Neighborhood Technology
• Ross Compton, Actor
• John Connor, Illinois House of Representatives, District 85
• Teresa Córdova, Director, UIC Great Cities Institute
• Frank Ettawageshik, Executive Director, United Tribes of Michigan
• Alison Fore, Public and Intergovernmental Affairs, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago
• Dirk Fucik, Owner, Dirk’s Fish
• Ricardo Gamboa, Creator of The Hoodoisie
• Beate Geissler, Professor, UIC Department of Art
• Troy Hernandez, Data Scientist, IBM and Volunteer Director, Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization (P.E.R.R.O.)
• Ryan Hidden, Executive Director, Change Peoria
• Robert Hirschfeld, Water Policy Specialist and Communications, Prairie Rivers Network
• Brian Holmes, Art and cultural critic, cartographer and political activist
• Tonika Johnson, Social justice artist/photographer, Creator of the Folded Map Project
• Jennifer Jordan, Professor and Department Chair, Sociology and Urban Studies, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
• Matthew Kaplan, Photographer
• Marcella Bondie Kennan, Program Director, Climate Planning and Programs, Center for Neighborhood Technology
• Abigail Kremer, UIC Freshwater Lab lead pipes expert
• Angel de Jesus León, David Bedolla, and Saul Nunez, Local experts/Los Billys 
• Sarah Lewison, Associate Professor, Radio, Television and Digital Media, Southern Illinois University
• Yibing Li, Associate Director for Business and Finance, UIC Great Cities Institute
• Antonio Lopez, Historian and environmental justice consultant
• Léo Marty, Ecole nationale supérieure d’architecture de Toulouse
• Chelsea Maupin, Research Manager, Güd Marketing 
• Izayotilmahtzin Mazehualli, Research Assistant, American Indian Center
• Bryan McDaniel, Senior Policy Analyst/Government Liaison, Citizens Utility Board
• Derek Nelson, Actor
• Allison Neubauer, Visiting Great Lakes Outreach Associate at Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant
• Allyson Nolde, UIC Freshwater Lab advocacy expert
• Mike Nowlin, Senior Public Relations and Policy Manager, Güd Marketing 
• Mike Oquendo, Executive Producer, Mike Oquendo Events, Inc.
• Samer Owaida, grassroots organizer and researcher
• Gizem Ozcelik, Founder, go pr
• Fawn Pochel, Education Coordinator, American Indian Center
• Zhenya Polozova, Regional Organizer, Midwest Office of Food & Water Watch
• Cristina Radevski, translation consultant
• Nate Roseberry, Adjunct Professor, UIC Department of Urban Planning and Policy
• Stephen Schlickman, Principle, Schlickman & Associates
• Ryan Schnurr, Editor-in-Chief, Belt Magazine 
• Sarah Rachel Schol, Actor
• Pinqy Ring, Rapper
• Jessica Seno, MS, Pre-Award Specialist, Office of Social Science Research, UIC
• Iyana Simba, Clean Water Advocate, Illinois Environmental Council
• Cynthia Soto, Director, UIC Native American Support Program
• Janet Swatscheno, Co-Director of Digital Humanities Initiative, Digital Publishing Librarian, Assessment and Scholarly Communications, University Library, UIC
• Holden Thomas, UIC Freshwater Lab flooding expert
• Edith Tovar, Community Organizer, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization
• Luis Alberto Urrea, Novelist
• Sanjeev Vidyarthi, Associate Professor, UIC Department of Urban Planning and Policy
• Daniel Wendt, Public Affairs Specialist, MWRD
• Andrew Yang, Associate Professor, Liberal Arts, School of the Art Institute