This year’s Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment at University of Illinois (iSEE) Congress was co-organized with the Center for Global Studies, in partnership with the Illinois Global Institute and the Joint Area Centers Symposium (JACS), four of which are funded through U.S. Department of Education Title VI grants. The series of Zoom events brought together a diverse group of researchers, educators, journalists and activists to address global water crises under the rubric of “The Future of Water”, and to introduce the Illinois campus and community to cutting-edge thinking from highly influential scholars on topics ranging from drought to the global politics of water to pollution, public health, and biodiversity.