About Us - Introduction 2

Our mission

is to transform MIT into a replicable model—one that generates just, equitable, applicable, and scalable solutions for responding to the unprecedented challenges of a changing planet.

To achieve our mission, we seek to advance a collaborative process that engages and elevates a diverse set of voices to foster operational excellence, education, research and innovation on our campus.

Creating a next generation sustainable campus

The MIT Office of Sustainability (MITOS) was established in 2013 under the Executive Vice President and Treasurer's Office to integrate sustainability across all levels of our campus by engaging the collective brainpower of our students, staff, faculty, alumni, and partners. We have set out to ensure that sustainability is a critical part of MIT’s standard operating procedures and is fully integrated into the working, research, teaching, social and cultural spheres of our campus.

The MITOS team. Read more about the team here. Photo taken in our office space in E38. Learn more about the test bed features of this space here.

How we work

The MITOS Strategy is organized into four areas of responsibility. While our work is based on campus, we are connected to the larger mission of MIT – to serve the nation and world. We have set out to have an an impact across scales, from the individual to the globe.

Areas of Responsibility:

Sustainable Campus Systems: Reimagining systems on campus to advance the well-being and resilience of people and the environment

Campus as an Urban Living Laboratory: Utilizing the campus and its urban surroundings as a test bed for innovation and knowledge generation through research and education

Collaborative Partnerships: Harnessing the collective intelligence of networks and communities to solve shared problems

Leadership and Capacity Building: Engaging and empowering faculty, students, and staff in shaping, applying, and continuously improving the sustainability of MIT and beyond

Read about our Scales of Impact framework.

Our core values

Applied Innovation: Pursue creative strategies with tangible and scalable impacts

Community Mobilization: Generate opportunities to mobilize and engage MIT’s educational enterprise around climate and sustainability efforts.

Civic Responsibility: Contribute to the mission of MIT by serving our campus, community, and the world

Inclusive design: Foster a culture where people from diverse backgrounds and departments feel they are valued and their voices are essential, heard, and respected.

Systems Thinking: View all stakeholders, resources and challenges as interrelated and mutually dependent.

Our methods

Apply system-thinking to campus design, management, growth and renewal

Redefine the campus as an experimental laboratory for applied innovation and learning

Connect people, ideas and systems in ways that spark transformative and lasting change

Position higher education as a critical partner in delivering scalable impact from the individual to the global level

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging

The Office of Sustainability is part of the Campus Services and Stewardship Committee for Staff Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, established in 2018, along with representatives from the Department of Facilities; the Environment, Health, and Safety Office; and the Office of Campus Planning. The committee meets regularly to discuss and develop initiatives to promote diversity, inclusion, and belonging and to provide resources that advance community knowledge and awareness in this area.

Examples of the goals and activities that are in planning or underway include:

Reviewing internal practices to ensure they are inclusive and relevant to a diverse culture (for example, in hiring and procurement);

Addressing local recruitment challenges to attract and retain a diverse workforce; and

Finding opportunities for staff engagement, so that every staff member feels they belong in and connect with the greater MIT community.

To accomplish this work, the CSS DEI Committee is in touch with the Institute Community and Equity Office and will work to align with MIT’s Strategic Action Plan for Belonging, Achievement, and Composition. The committee also meets with peers within and outside of MIT to learn from tried-and-tested methods of building diversity.

For more details and a listing of committee members and efforts, please visit http://web.mit.edu/facilities/about/css-dei.html

active open space in front of a brown skyscraper

Our space on campus

The third floor of Building E38 is home to MITOS, the Environmental Solutions Initiative, and the Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab. In this space, sustainably sourced and low-VOC materials and finishes are being tested by occupants each day. Though E38 has countless green building features—the third floor alone has nearly one dozen unique features and finishes including floor tiles, solar shades, countertops, and millwork—some of the materials on the third floor are being used for the first time on campus in order to test their viability as sustainable alternatives for additional spaces around campus. Learn more about these features and their impact.

Scales of Impact

The challenges of sustainability are both local and global. Creating transformative solutions requires deep collaboration among community leaders and members on campus, city and global scales.

It starts with you on campus.

We start with you to find solutions at the campus level to serve both the institution's needs as well as to incubate new and big ideas.

Start

Study

Solve

MITOS Staff

Meet our team

Drawing from diverse academic and professional backgrounds, we work together to connect people, ideas and systems across the MIT community in ways that spark transformative and lasting change.

Julie Newman

Director

Julie joined MIT as the Institute’s first Director of Sustainability to found the Office of Sustainability and build a platform both unique to MIT yet with the intention of advancing the field at large. With this in mind, Julie launched MIT’s sustainability platform grounded in a methodology to leverage the role of the campus to solve for sustainability and a changing climate across multiple scales - at the levels of the individual, the campus, the city, the state, the country and the globe.

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Julie is a pioneer in the field of campus sustainability and has worked for twenty-five years at a combination of public and private, and rural and urban campuses alike. In her work she has demonstrated that the actions and infrastructure of our campuses are integral to advancing and fulfilling the educational mission of Higher Education. She brings a systems thinking perspective to all of her work and seeks to build bridges between operational and academic partners alike to inform both her understanding of the challenges at hand and to develop solutions. Her prior research which she now applies, focused on the intersection between decision-making processes and organizational behavior in institutionalizing sustainability into higher education.

Prior to MIT, Julie was the founding Director of the Office of Sustainability for Yale University where she also held a lecturer appointment with the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Julie came to Yale from the University of New Hampshire, Office of Sustainability Programs (OSP) where she assisted with the development of the program since its inception. As the field of campus sustainability took route, Julie was determined to bring the northeast pioneers together with the understanding that as colleagues we do our best work when we challenge each other’s thinking. With this in mind, Julie co-founded the Northeast Campus Sustainability Consortium, to advance education and action for sustainable development on university campuses in the northeast and maritime region.

Julie is also a Lecturer in MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP) at MIT. She lectures and consults for universities both nationally and internationally, participates on a variety of boards and advisory committees and has contributed to a series of edited books and peer reviewed journals. Julie holds a BS in Natural Resource Policy and Management from the University of Michigan; an MS in Environmental Policy and Biology from Tufts University; and a Ph.D. in Natural Resources and Environmental Studies from the University of New Hampshire.

Recent projects

In addition to leading the office, Julie is responsible for the oversight and implementation of the Campus Impact Goals called for by MIT’s Fast Forward Climate action plan. Julie chairs the Carbon Footprint Working Group as well as a Net Zero 2026 faculty working group. Looking ahead, Julie will be working with an internal team to determine how MIT will decarbonize the campus by 2050.

Journal Articles

Verhoef L.A. et al. (2020) Towards a Learning System for University Campuses as Living Labs for Sustainability. In: Leal Filho W. et al. (eds) Universities as Living Labs for Sustainable Development. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham

Finnveden, Göran, Julie Newman, and Leendert A. Verhoef. 2019. "Sustainable Development and Higher Education: Acting with a Purpose" Sustainability 11, no. 14: 3831.

Newman, J. (2018). Calling for a Next-Generation Sustainability Framework at MIT. In: Amini, M., Boroojeni, K., Iyengar, S., Pardalos, P., Blaabjerg, F., Madni, A. (eds) Sustainable Interdependent Networks. Studies in Systems, Decision and Control, vol 145.

Washington-Ottombre, C., Washington, G., Newman, J. (2018) Campus sustainability in the US: Environmental management and social change since 1970. Journal of Cleaner Production. v. 196, 564-575.

Weber, S., Newman, J. (2017). Ecoregional analysis applied to campus sustainability performance. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education.

Newman, J. (2012). An organizational change management framework for sustainability. Greener Management International. Galea , C. [Ed.]. pp. 65-75(11).

Newman, J ; Rauch, J. (2009). Institutionalizing a greenhouse gas commitment at Yale. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education. Vol. 10 Issue: 4, 390 - 400.

Newman, J. (2009). Education for Sustainability – Designing an educational system for sustainability. Encyclopedia of Sustainability. Great Barrington, Massachusetts: Berkshire Publishing Group, LLC.

Newman, J.; Weber, S.; Bookhart, D. (2009) Institutionalizing campus-wide sustainability: A programmatic approach. Sustainability: Journal of Record. vo.2 no.3.

Newman, J.; Rauch, J. (2009). Defining sustainability metric targets in an institutional setting. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education. v. 10. n.2., 107 – 116.

Newman, J.; Rauch, J. (2008). Zeroing in on sustainability. Sustainability: Journal of Record. vo. 1. no.6, 387-390.

Newman, J. (2008). Reconceptualizing a model for service learning in the context of a sustainable campus. Practical approaches to ethics for colleges and universities. New Directions for Higher Education. No. 142. , 17 – 24.

Book Chapters

Newman, J. and Weber, S. (2023). Accelerating Response to a Changing Climate: A Campus Strategy that Aligns Solutions Across Scales. In, Handbook of Sustainability in Higher Education: An Agenda for Transformational Change.Purcell, W.M. & Haddock-Fraser, J. (Eds.). Bloomsbury Press, London, U.K. (due for publication February, 2023).

Newman. J. (2021). USA case study. In, Universities facing Climate Change and Sustainability. McCowan, T., Leal Filho, W & Brandli, L (Eds). Global University Leader Council, Hamburg.

Verhoef, L.A., Bossert, M., Newman, J. et al. (2020). Towards a Learning System for University Campuses as Living Labs for Sustainability. In: , et al. Universities as Living Labs for Sustainable Development. World Sustainability Series.

Newman, J. (2010). Sustainability education. Siever, B. (Ed.). The Spirit of Sustainability Encyclopedia [pp.148-150]. Great Barrington, Massachusetts: Berkshire Publishing Group, LLC.

Newman, J. (2007). The impacts of cell phones and laptops in a sustainable world. Kleiman, S. (Ed). Displacing Place: Mobile Communication in the 21 st Century. [pp.77-83] New York, New York: Peter Lang Publishing.

Newman, J. (2006). The role of a campus sustainability professional in facilitating institutional reform. 147 Tips for Teaching Sustainability [pp.99-102]. Timpson, W. [Ed]. Madison, Wisconsin: Attwood Publishing.

Newman, J., Abrams, E. (2005). Organizational structure and rational choice: Unveiling the obstacles to integrating sustainability into decision-making in an institution of higher education. Leal Filho, W.(Ed) Handbook of Sustainability Research. Frankfurt, Germany: Peter Lang Scientific Publishing.

Edited Volumes

Finnveden, G., Verheof, L, Newman. J. [Ed]. (December 2019). Sustainable Development and Higher Education Institutions: Acting with Purpose. Special Issue of Sustainability. MDPI.

Leal Filho,W, Brandli, L, Castro, Newman, J. (Ed). (January 2017). Handbook of Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development in Higher Education. Springer. Switzerland.

Newman, J. (Ed.). (June 2011). Green Education: An A-to-Z Guide. (vol.7). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

Newman, J. (Ed). (June, 2011). Green Ethics and Philosophy: An A-to-Z Guide (vol. 8). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

Newman, J. Fernandez, L. (2007). Strategies for Institutionalizing Sustainability in Higher Education – Report on the Northeast Campus Sustainability Consortium 3rd Annual Conference. Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Report n.10. New Haven, CT: FES.
Books

Newman, J. (2009). Reaching Beyond Compliance: The Challenges of Achieving Campus Sustainability. Germany: VDM Publishing.

Conference Proceedings & Professional Reports

Newman, J. (2005, April). Strategies for integrating sustainability into higher education: A case analysis of Yale University. United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development – The role of higher education institutions. Graz, Austria.

Newman, J. (2002, August). What keeps universities from fully embracing sustainability principles?: A presentation of a conceptual framework for research. Conference proceedings of the National Association of Environmental Education.

Newman, J. (2001, October). Consumer choice, sustainability, and a constructivist pedagogy. Conference proceedings of the National Association of Environmental Education.

Informational Articles and Instructional Materials

Newman, J. (2003, November). Is eating a moral act?: An exploration from agrarianism to consumerism. The Center for the Humanities Newsletter. No. 2

Newman, J. ; Diezel, J. (2001, January) Continuing connections through the curriculum and community. Connections Newsletter. Vol.16. No.1

Yu Cheng

Sustainability Data Scientist

Yu joined the office to innovate MIT's sustainability data collection, reporting, and sharing efforts. In his role, he works closely with MITOS project managers and external partners to streamline data pipelines and unlock new possibilities for data application.

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Passionate about combating climate change using a data-driven approach, Yu leverages his expertise in various fields, including climate science, software engineering, data analytics, and modeling, to help advance MIT's climate action goals.

Prior to MIT, Yu worked as a data scientist/consultant for various startups, where he experienced modern data engineering practices, implemented ETL pipelines and machine learning solutions using cloud infrastructures, and witnessed the value of collaborating closely with clients. He holds a Ph.D. in Meteorology and Physical Oceanography from the University of Miami and a B.S. in Atmospheric Sciences from National Taiwan University.

Collaborate with me on: Decarbonization, data management and pipeline automation, and sustainability data visualization.

Rebecca Fowler

Senior Administrative Assistant

Rebecca is responsible for providing administrative support to the Director and all project managers in the Office of Sustainability. She is the office manager, human resources administrator, accountant, and event planner. She works closely with the Director on managing priorities and team wellbeing.

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Rebecca is a co-chair for the MIT Working Green Committee, a group that promotes sustainability among staff members on campus, and manages and runs Choose to Reuse. Rebecca has a M.Sc. In Environmental Social Science from the University of Kent and a B.A. In Anthropology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Recent Projects: Choose to Reuse

Collaborate with me on: Sustainable events and purchasing

Brian Goldberg

Assistant Director

Brian joined the Office of Sustainability to help develop and demonstrate solutions for how the campus can become resilient and adapted to a changing climate. Brian is also responsible for helping MIT design waste out of our systems by testing and scaling solutions that impact supply chains, campus consumption and waste system behaviors and processes.

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Brian explores and advances solutions by leveraging the campus as a test bed. Collaborations among MIT research groups, faculty, students and operational experts are used to collectively pilot test, develop, demonstrate and operationalize data-driven solutions.

Prior to MIT, Brian worked for 15 years addressing urban planning, climate change and sustainable development challenges across Africa, Asia, and the US at national, regional, city, and community scales with employers including AECOM Design and Planning, United Nations (Asia-Pacific) and James Corner Field Operations (New York City). Locally, Brian serves on his town’s Greenway Committee and the Open Space and Rec Plan Committee. Brian has a Master of Environmental Management from the Yale School of Environment and a B.A. from Union College (NY).

Recent projects: Brian is responsible for co-leading implementation of Fast Forward MIT initiatives including the Resiliency and Adaptation Roadmap, Waste Impact Goals, and Scope 3 Accounting. Recent resiliency activities include MIT Flood Risk Dashboard and MIT Flood Risk Analysis.

Collaborate with me on: Climate resiliency and adaptation planning, designing out waste, Scope 3 reduction planning

Susy Jones

Senior Sustainability Project Manager

Susy joined the team to help implement the strategic framework for the Office during its launch in 2013, convening staff, students, and faculty from across the Institute around topics ranging from low-carbon commuting to organizational change. She is currently working to advance sustainable and accessible food systems and environmental justice on campus.

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Susy revels in collaborating on dynamic programming, such as the Living Climate Futures Symposium, and building unique and impactful community partnerships, such as the Launchpad at the MIT students center, which incubates small and diverse local food businesses. As a representative of MIT, she also chairs the City of Cambridge’s Recycling Advisory Committee.

Prior to MIT, she worked to advance energy efficiency in schools and public buildings in the Northeast and helped manage a landmark nutrition education program in 70 public schools in Philadelphia. Outside of MIT, you can find her exploring new food spots in Boston or taking in the beauty of the Arnold Arboretum. Susy has an M.A. in Urban & Environmental Planning & Policy from Tufts University and a B.A. in English from Bryn Mawr College.

Recent projects: Progress toward a sustainable campus food system

Collaborate with me on: Food systems, environmental and climate justice, community partnerships, creating a culture of belonging in the sustainability field, experiential learning around farming and gardening

Steven Lanou

Senior Sustainability Project Manager

Steve helped establish the Office of Sustainability in 2013. Prior to this, Steve was leading campus sustainability efforts as Deputy Director within the MIT Environmental Programs Office.

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With a focus on climate and energy work, Steve works to develop, promote, and coordinate programs to advance the Institute’s commitment to sustainable practices, while integrating campus-focused research and learning opportunities with MIT’s faculty, students, and the broader community. Steve serves on several advisory and working committees serving the Institute, the Cities of Cambridge and Boston, and his hometown of Winchester.

Before joining MIT, Steve worked in a variety of environmental research and planning capacities in management consulting, technical consulting, and non-profit policy research, including the World Resources Institute, United Nations Development Programme, World Bank, and Arthur Andersen.

Steve is an environmental planner by training with over 20 years experience in environmental policy development and program implementation. He holds a Bachelors degree in international economic development from Brown University, and a Masters degree in environmental policy and planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Recent projects: Implementing MIT’s net-zero emissions by 2026 climate action plans, developing MIT’s greenhouse gas inventory, enhancing our DataPool visualizations

Collaborate with me on: Net-zero and zero emissions planning, greenhouse gas mitigation, renewable energy and carbon credit procurement strategy, data and decision-making, community collaborations

Ellie McLane

Sustainability Project Manager

Ellie joined the office to advance school and department level climate action called for by MIT’s Fast Forward: Plan for Climate Action for the Decade. In her role, she engages in a collaborative solution design process with students, staff and faculty across MIT Departments, Labs, and Centers.

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With a strong emphasis on data, Ellie leads the design and implementation of related data management, strategic planning, and analyses needed to develop the departmental level Sustainability and Climate Action plans.

Prior to MIT, Ellie worked as a geologist and project manager for the global sustainability consultancy ERM, where she focused on characterizing and remediating complex contaminated sites. Ellie currently serves as chair of her local Wetlands Protection Committee. She holds a M.A. in Earth and Environmental Sciences from Columbia University and a B.S. in Interdisciplinary Physics and Earth Systems Science from the University of Michigan.

Recent projects: Fast Forward MIT Campus Commitments and Collaborative Climate Action Program @ MIT

Collaborate with me on: Climate and sustainability action planning, climate mitigation, climate resiliency

Nicole Morell

Sustainability Communication Specialist

Nicole joined the office with a goal of engaging the campus community in sustainability efforts across MIT. In her role, she works closely with MITOS project managers and staff across the Institute to communicate programs, initiatives, and news in support of MIT’s work in responding to the challenges of a changing planet.

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With a focus on digital media, Nicole uses a wide range of communication channels to engage and inform the MIT community of the important work of MITOS.

Nicole first joined MIT in 2014 working in communications and marketing in the MIT Alumni Association. There she focused on engaging alumni through social media and sharing stories of their work and volunteerism throughout the globe, reporting on topics from sustainable sanitation systems to commercial crew spacecraft. Outside of MIT, she serves on her local city council. She has a B.A. in journalism from the University of Rhode Island.

Recent projects: At Sustainability Connect 2024, a look at how MIT is decarbonizing its campus, Connecting the Dots, Office of Sustainability 2023 Impact Report

Collaborate with me on: Climate communications through video, articles, outreach, and events

Dawn Quirk

Sustainability Project Manager

Dawn joined the office to enhance MIT’s culture of reuse, strengthen and amplify MIT’s efforts to design waste out of MIT’s procurement systems and institutional operations, and facilitate the highest and best use of recyclable materials. Launching from a strong foundation of MIT waste studies and successful design-out-waste practices, she accomplishes her work by partnering across MIT to identify opportunities for improvement, co-creating solutions, and on long-term planning to meet MIT’s waste impact climate commitments.

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Dawn previously worked on waste reduction initiatives and planning with the City of Cambridge, Tufts University, and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection’s Bureau of Air and Waste. Her work at MassDEP on waste ban compliance and policy incentives through monetary and technical assistance grants sparked an interest in policy work, which led her to earn an MPA at Northeastern University. She keeps current on recycling markets and legislation by serving on the board of the Northeast Resources Recovery Association.

Recent projects: Dawn served on the Boston Green Ribbon Commission’s Technical Advisory Group for Waste for the creation of the Carbon Free Boston report. At Northeastern University, Dawn wrote a three-piece analysis on the implications of legislating recycling in a non-waste ban state: Research Brief, Policy Brief, Recommendation.

Collaborate with me on: reuse systems, food waste recycling and reduction, and scaling waste reduction solutions through policy and systems improvement.

Leela Velautham

Postdoctoral Associate

Leela is a post-doctoral researcher working jointly with MITOS and MIT’s Climate and Sustainability Consortium. Her research focuses on characterizing decarbonization pathways and net-zero targets and identifying common bottlenecks to achieving net-zero across both higher education and industry.

Leela’s work includes reviewing literature, conducting interviews with stakeholders, analyzing relevant sources of data and keeping up to date with various GHG accounting standards including Science Based Targets.

Prior to MIT, Leela graduated from UC Berkeley with a Ph.D. in Education in Maths, Science and technology, where she worked with Prof. Michael Ranney on a variety of projects that involved changing acceptance, beliefs, and emotions regarding climate change. During her Ph.D. she was also a UCOP Carbon Neutrality Graduate Student Fellow and worked at UC Berkeley’s Office of Sustainability on a variety of initiatives including managing the 2018-2021 campus greenhouse gas emissions inventory and helping to design and launch a business air travel mitigation pilot program for the campus. She has a combined Bachelors and Masters degree in chemistry from the University of Oxford (UK).

MITOS Students

Student Sustainability Researchers

Our students develop meaningful work to advance a sustainable campus at MIT and to build their professional experience in institutional transformation. We hire both undergraduate and graduate students to help shape the future of sustainability at MIT and beyond.

Check out our open postings here.

Meet our current student researchers!

Dylan Cook

Sustainability Researcher

Dylan is a current sophomore from southern Virginia who has worked at MITOS for a year as a social media assistant, creating content and editing videos for the Instagram and YouTube accounts of MITOS. He is also working on the UA Sustain Garden and MacGregor Minihives, and he co-produces and broadcasts a WMBR radio show on Tuesdays at 10pm.

Jordyn Goldson

Sustainability Researcher

Jordyn is a rising sophomore majoring in Civil and Environmental Engineering. She's specifically interested in making cities and their infrastructure more resilient and sustainable. In her first year, she was part of the Terrascope learning community where she learned more about tackling large environmental problems. She has also done previous research on tree canopies over the decades and implementing hydroelectric power into water treatment plants. In her free time she enjoys crocheting and baking.

Rudiba Laiba

Sustainability Researcher

Rudiba is a rising senior majoring in Computer Science and Biology with a Minor in Business Management. She loves taekwondo, baking, trying to new things and anything outdoorsy. She is passionate about sustainability and excited to be part of the MITOS Summer Cohort.

Wacuka Ngata

Sustainability Researcher

Wacuka is a sophomore double majoring in Materials Science & Engineering and Business Management. Passionate about storytelling, she is dedicated to shaping the sustainability narrative. She spent the summer researching ways to optimize green data centers with MCSC for sustainable computing. At MITOS, she is analyzing MIT’s scope three emissions related to cloud computing purchases and developing strategies to lower them. Along with sustainability, Wacuka enjoys exploring new places, playing the piano,and crafting ideas into tangible realities with others.

Delphine Protopapas

Climate and Sustainability Scholar

Delphine is a junior majoring in Civil and Environmental Engineering with a minor in Urban Planning. She is interested in creating a decarbonized and climate-resilient built environment. She is a MCSC Climate and Sustainability Scholar collaborating with MITOS on a project to identify and mitigate flood risk for campus infrastructure. During her free time, she enjoys reading, singing with her acapella group, and riding her bicycle around Boston.

Nrithya Renganathan

Sustainability Researcher

Nrithya is a senior at MIT double majoring in Urban Planning and Computer science. She is deeply interested in how we can mindfully use technology to solve climate, sustainability, and environmental justice issues. This past summer, Nrithya interned at a climate-tech startup that aims to create sustainable data centers for high-intensity computational workloads. She is currently involved with improving MITOS's data transformation and management tools in order to provide enhanced sustainability metrics for each department. In her free time, Nrithya plays the saxophone with MIT live and dances with Mocha Moves, Sakata Afrique, and MIT Mirchi.

Becky Xu

Sustainability Researcher

Becky Xu is a Master's student at MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning, specializing in data-driven solutions for climate resiliency. Her research encompasses renewable energy infrastructure, decarbonizing the built environment, and climate action strategies. She has experience in climate risk analytics, city-level clean energy and climate planning, environmental justice research, and net-zero building design.In her free time, Becky designs websites, creates marketing materials, and manages social media for student organizations like the MIT Energy & Climate Club. With a background in computational design and fabrication, she also enjoys dancing with the MIT Asian Dance Team.

Past MITOS Students

Learn about the many students that have worked for MITOS over the years.

Past MITOS Student Fellows

Faculty Fellows

MITOS Faculty Fellows

Our team works collaboratively with several faculty and researchers at MIT. Their work directly supports the many campus sustainability projects we focus on.

Jeremy Gregory

Faculty Fellow

Jeremy Gregory is a research scientist in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Executive Director of the Concrete Sustainability Hub at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He studies the economic and environmental implications of engineering and system design decisions, particularly in the area of materials production and recovery systems.

Gregory's research topics include product and firm environmental footprinting, manufacturing and life cycle cost analysis, and characterization of sustainable material systems. Jeremy has applied these methods, often with industry partners, to a range of different products and industries including pavements, buildings, automobiles, electronics, consumer goods, and waste treatment and recovery. He received his PhD and MS from MIT and BS from Montana State University-Bozeman, all in mechanical engineering.

As a MITOS Faculty Fellow, Gregory is leading an effort to quantify MIT’s Scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions, which encompasses activities including MIT’s purchased goods and services, capital equipment, building construction, business travel, employee commuting, and waste. He is also involved in efforts to quantify the potential for emissions reductions from actions such as improving building energy efficiency through machine learning algorithms, reducing contamination in the recycling stream through behavioral science-informed interventions, and lowering air travel emissions through carbon offsets.

Miho Mazereeuw

Faculty Fellow

Miho Mazereeuw is an architect and landscape, associate professor of architecture and urbanism, and director of the Urban Risk Lab. Much of her work and research focuses on disaster resilience.

Via SA+P: In the Urban Risk Lab multi-disciplinary groups of researchers work to innovate on technologies, materials, processes, and systems to reduce risk. Operating on several scales, the Lab develops methods to embed risk reduction and preparedness into the design of the regions, cities and urban spaces to increase the resilience of local communities.

Miho Mazereeuw taught at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University and the University of Toronto prior to joining the faculty at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As an Arthur W. Wheelwright Fellow, she is completing her forthcoming book entitled Preemptive Design: Disaster and Urban Development along the Pacific Ring of Fire featuring case studies on infrastructure design, multifunctional public space and innovative planning strategies in earthquake prone regions. Her design work on disaster prevention has been exhibited globally. As the director of the Urban Risk Lab at MIT, Mazereeuw is collaborating on a number of projects with institutions and organizations in the field of disaster reconstruction/prevention and is currently working in Haiti, India, Japan and Chile.

Mazereeuw was formerly an Associate at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture and has also worked in the offices of Shigeru Ban and Dan Kiley. Mazereeuw completed a Bachelor of Arts with High Honors in Sculpture and Environmental Science at Wesleyan University and her Master in Architecture and in Landscape Architecture with Distinction at the Harvard Graduate School of Design where she was awarded the Janet Darling Webel Prize and the Charles Eliot Traveling Fellowship.

associate professor of architecture and urbanism, director of the Urban Risk Lab, and . Working on a large, territorial scale with an interest in public spaces and the urban experience, Mazereeuw is known for her work in disaster resilience.

In the Urban Risk Lab multi-disciplinary groups of researchers work to innovate on technologies, materials, processes, and systems to reduce risk. Operating on several scales, the Lab develops methods to embed risk reduction and preparedness into the design of the regions, cities and urban spaces to increase the resilience of local communities.

Gal Ringel

Faculty Fellow

Gal Ringel, Ph.D., is an architect and a lecturer at the innovation accelerator MITdesignX, dedicated to design innovation, entrepreneurship, and the development of new ventures created at MIT. As a senior architect and researcher, she has worked in industry and academia around the world on pioneering architectural projects focusing on Sustainability and Design Innovation.

As a MITOS faculty fellow, she is developing new methods to foster collaboration between academia, industry, government, and community partners.

Kenneth Strzepek

Faculty Fellow

Kenneth Strzepek has spent 30 years as a researcher and practitioner at the nexus of engineering, environmental and economics systems, primarily related to water resource planning and management, river basin planning, and modeling of agricultural, environmental, and water resources systems. His work includes applications of operations research, engineering economics, micro-economics and environmental economics to a broad range applications: from project scale to national and global investment policy studies.

Strzepek has worked for a range of national governments as well as the United Nations, the World Bank, the USAID. He is Professor Emeritus of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and recently a Visiting Professor of Economics and Affiliated Professor in College of Architecture and Planning at the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute as well as an International Fellow at the Center for Environmental Economics and Policy for Africa and Examiner in the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He has been an contributing author to the Second IPCC assessement, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, the World Water Vision, and the UN World Water Development Report. He is currently the USAID Scientific Liaison Office on Water and Climate Change to the CGIAR. Prof. Strzepek has a PhD in Water Resources Systems Analysis from MIT, an MA in Economics from the University of Colorado and is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Economics at the University of Hamburg, Germany.

Jobs

Join our dynamic team

Join our team of creative individuals working towards a more sustainable MIT. As our role on campus continues to grow and evolve, we'll post both full-time and student researcher positions to meet our goals.

Student Positions

Program Overview

We are now accepting applicants for spring semester Sustainability Researcher positions. See descriptions below.

Join the MIT Office of Sustainability for our Student Sustainability Researchers Program. We are seeking enthusiastic student researchers for a part-time, paid opportunity to advance sustainability initiatives across the MIT campus. Collaborate with a dedicated team on diverse projects aligned with MIT's Climate Action Plan, driving meaningful change toward a sustainable future.

Students from the Summer 2024 Student Researcher Cohort

Design out Waste Student Researcher

The Design Out Waste Student Researcher will work with the MIT Office of Sustainability (MITOS) and partner offices to support MIT’s Waste Impact Goal to reduce MIT’s trash by 30% by 2030. The primary focus of this role will be to lead the growth of food waste reduction and diversion in residence halls. Additional priorities may include working on projects to design out waste from operations and procurement activities, expand food waste collection systems, eliminate MIT’s use and reliance on single-use products, and operationalize reuse strategies.  This role will be a member of the spring student cohort, but will focus 100% on waste projects.

This Researcher will be directly involved in leading a team of Dorm Leads, a new focused undergraduate position blending the responsibilities of Food Waste Fighters and Waste Watchers, to champion food waste separation programs in residence halls.
Building upon MIT’s materials management initiative, current pilot activities, and peer University efforts, this Researcher will collaborate with Housing, MIT Dining, the Office of Recycling and Materials Management, and dorm leadership to help test and refine actionable strategies and tools to meet our Waste Impact Goals.
Key outcomes will be:

Leadership and coordination of Dorm Leads
Increased use of the Responsible Waste Sorting training and the Waste Wizard
Aid in the planning and implementation of Dorm Lead led engagement events
Manage the website to reflect current conditions: https://sites.mit.edu/foodwaste/
Synthesis and communication of key data-driven findings and lessons learned that can inform campus-wide scale-ability of peer-to-peer waste reduction strategies
Identification of opportunities for improved design and implementation of campus waste management approaches
Documenting outcomes in briefs or presentation slides

Duties will include:

Planning for the implementation of an expanded and improved dormitory food waste collection system
Collecting and collating metrics of success to monitor and evaluate performance and motivate peers
Collaborate with Dorm Con Dining Chairs and MIT Dining as needed
Facilitate relationship-building between House Managers and Dorm Leads as needed
Holding regular meetings with the Dorm Leads in conjunction with the student Admins
Manage shared resources on Google Drive

Details:
Location: MIT Office of Sustainability
Duration: Spring semester (February to May)
Pay: $17-$20/hour (depending on skills and experience)
Hours: 10 hours per week

To Apply: Fill in this form including a resume and a cover letter.

Potential Spring Semester Projects

As a student researcher, you may be involved in a variety of projects based on your skills and interests, including:

Develop and review code for sustainability data dashboards.
Automate data processes for sustainability reporting.
Support dorm food waste collection and analyze data (see detailed description below).
Research single-use plastic consumption and propose reduction strategies.
Communicate MIT’s climate action initiatives to the campus community.
Develop plan to integrate Menus of Change principles for sustainable eating and climate-friendly options into MIT food system
Map sustainability features and infrastructure on campus.
Assist with the Zero Waste certification for academic departments.
Identify ways that MIT’s purchasing decisions can invest in more sustainable products

Student Researcher Program - Cohort Experience, Details, and Application

MITOS Student Sustainability Researcher

Cohort Experience

Student schedules will vary, so we are committed to providing opportunities for the cohort to connect, collaborate, build a sense of community, and gain a well-rounded experience. Key elements include:

Weekly Meetups: Regular in-person meetups at the Office of Sustainability to share progress, discuss challenges, and connect with peers and mentors.
Sustainability Leadership Workshop: A workshop designed to develop your leadership skills in sustainability, offering a chance to learn and network with fellow students.
Mid-Semester Hackathon: An exciting event focused on solving a sustainability challenge at MIT, designed to bring the cohort together for teamwork and innovation.
Shared Online Workspace: A dedicated Slack workspace to facilitate communication, resource sharing, and collaboration among cohort members.
Project Showcase: An end-of-semester event where you’ll present your work and celebrate the cohort’s achievements.
Reflection Sessions: Structured sessions to reflect on your learning, growth, and the impact of your projects, fostering deeper connections within the cohort.
Comprehensive Skill Development: Gain experience across multiple sustainability domains and work with various project managers to build a well-rounded professional skill set.

Details

Eligibility: undergraduate and graduate students. We recommend international students connect with MIT’s International Students Office to discuss eligibility before applying.
Location: Cambridge, with in-person and hybrid work expected
Schedule: Part Time: 10 hours of project work per week, February to May
Pay: $17-$20/hour, depending on experience
2 positions available: students will be matched with campus sustainability projects to work on with Office of Sustainability staff. I

Qualifications

Strong interest in sustainability issues, particularly urban and campus sustainability.
Commitment to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in climate and sustainability work.
Ability to work with colleagues and stakeholders across diverse cultures/backgrounds and serve the needs of diverse populations
Excellent written, visual, and oral communication skills, with the ability to present complex data clearly.
Proficiency in quantitative data collection, management, and analysis, including Excel.
Ability to work independently with minimal supervision
Self-motivation and an eagerness to learn
Experience in sustainability-related coursework within relevant MIT departments.

To apply

Available positions to apply to:

Sustainability Metrics Researcher - IAP only
Design out Waste Researcher - Spring semester
Two Sustainability Researcher spots available - Spring semester

Fill in this form including a resume and a cover letter.

Send questions to mitosjobs@mit.edu.

Full-time Staff Positions

The MIT Office of Sustainability (MITOS) is not currently hiring for any full time staff positions.

Contact Us

We look forward to hearing from you. Send us your comments, questions, and ideas for creating a more sustainable MIT.

contact

General Office Contact:

Email: sustainableMIT@mit.edu
Phone: (617) 715-4060

Office Location:

Building E38, 3rd Floor, Suite 346
292 Main Street
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA 02142

Mailing Address:

Office of Sustainability
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Avenue, E38-346
Cambridge, MA 02139

Collaborating with the Office of Sustainability

Are you a sustainability practitioner or scholar looking to engage deeply with MIT’s sustainability team? Learn more about the Climate Action & Sustainability in Higher Education Program.

Newsletter:

The MITOS Digest is a monthly newsletter focused on solving global challenges of sustainability at the local level. Each issue features sustainability news and research from campus and beyond along with events, case studies, data visualizations, and more. Subscribe

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Creating a next generation sustainable campus

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MITOS Student Sustainability Researcher

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Collaborating with the Office of Sustainability

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