The 2026 WWRM took place October 27-30, 2026
Meeting proceedings will be published in early 2027.
2026 Sponsors
The 16th biennial WWRM took place in Albuquerque, New Mexico October 27-30, 2026.
Transforming wind–wildlife understanding through science and collaboration
2026 Keynote
Sarah Mills, Ph.D. opened this year’s meeting with a talk titled Designing Energy Infrastructure with Community Acceptance in Mind.
Sarah Banas Mills, Ph.D.
Director, Center for EmPowering Communities, Graham Sustainability Institute
Associate Professor of Practice, Urban & Regional Planning
University of Michigan
About the 2026 Keynote
Sarah Mills is a professor of practice at the University of Michigan’s (UM’s) Urban & Regional Planning program and the Director of UM’s Center for EmPowering Communities. In addition to conducting research on the impacts of energy policy and renewable energy projects on communities, for the last several years, she and her team have received funding from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy to help Michigan local governments set policies related to energy. Sarah received her doctorate in Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Michigan, where her dissertation looked at the intersection of farmland preservation and wind energy development. She has a master’s in engineering for sustainable development from the University of Cambridge, and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Villanova University. She grew up on a farm in Monroe County, Michigan, but now lives in Ann Arbor where she serves on the City Planning Commission.
View full interactive agenda with speakers, times, and talk titles.
2026 Research Topics of Interest
- Global perspectives and emergent challenges and solutions
- Engineering innovation to monitor and minimize collision risk
- Considering climate science and social science in wind-wildlife work
- Decision-making around project implementation and species conservation in the face of uncertainty and imperfect data
- Data sharing, standardization, and synthesis
- Lessons learned between onshore and offshore wind energy development
- Species distribution/mapping tools to inform project siting and project design
- Assessing direct and indirect effects of wind energy and associated technologies
- Formulating and evaluating effective compensatory mitigation options
About the Meeting
The biennial WWRM provides an internationally recognized forum for attendees to share and engage in the latest science addressing the risk of wind energy to wildlife and developing solutions to avoid, minimize, and offset impacts. The meeting also brings together thought leaders to discuss priority topics and themes on these issues. Academics, researchers, conservation scientists, consultants, federal and state officials, NGO representatives, and industry professionals come together every other year for this unique opportunity. The 15th biennial WWRM was held from November 12-15, 2024 in Corpus Christi, Texas, and welcomed 400+ attendees from 43 U.S. states and 13 additional countries.
The meeting is organized and presented by REWI, with input provided by a multi-stakeholder planning committee. In-person and virtual attendance is open to all. View REWI’s Research Meeting FAQs for more information.
2026 Meeting Sponsors
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