Sustainability Connect 2017

Cultivating the campus test bed, harvesting a better future for all

Sustainability Connect is an annual meeting that brings together a dynamic cross-section of faculty, staff, and student leaders working across MIT to advance game-changing campus sustainability initiatives. This year's theme is: Cultivating the Campus Test Bed, Harvesting a Better Future for All. Read below for more info.

Logistics

Date & Time: Monday, May 8, 2017, 8:30AM-3PM (Invite only from 8:30AM-1PM; open to MIT 1PM-3PM)
Venue: Samberg Conference Center, E52, 7th Floor

Agenda

8:30AM-9AM |  Breakfast & Registration

9AM-9:15AM | Welcoming Remarks
Video Recap & Setting the Stage | Julie Newman, Director, Office of Sustainability
Welcome | Tony Sharon, Deputy Executive Vice President, Office of the EVPT

9:15AM-10AM | Keynote Address: Equity, Justice and Sustainable Solutions
Julian Agyeman, Professor, Tufts University, Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning

10AM-11AM | Panel: Exploring the Intersections between Innovation and Campus Sustainability at MIT
Moderated by: Glen Comiso, Senior Director for Institute Affairs at MIT
Panelists:

• Jim May, Senior Project Manager, MIT Campus Planning

• Jinane Abounadi, Executive Director, MIT Sandbox

• Sarah Eusden Gallop, Co-Director, MIT Office of Government & Community Relations

11AM-11:15AM | Coffee Break

11:15AM-12:15PM | Workshop: Collaborative Goal Setting, Harvesting a Better Future
Facilitated by MITOS staff
Small groups examine & reflect on setting actionable, innovative goals for sustainability

12:15PM-1PM | Lunch & Networking

To foster new connections with Sustainability Connect participants, the last two sessions are open to the wider MIT academic and administrative communities. Snacks will be served.

1PM-2PM | Cultivating the Test Bed: Constructing the Campus Lab
Moderated by: Joe Higgins, Director, Infrastructure Business Ops, Department of Facilities
Panelists:

• Rachel Perlman, PhD student in Engineering Systems Division & MIT Office of Sustainability Fellow (Campus Material Flow Analysis)

• Kripa Varanasi, Associate Professor, MIT Dept. of Mechanical Engineering (Water Savings in Cooling Towers and the Central Utilities Plant)

• Marius Peters, Research Scientist, Photovoltaics Research Lab (Solar Test Bed)

• Pam Greenley, Associate Director, MIT Office of Environment Health & Safety (Green Labs Certification)

2PM-3PM | Living Lab Ideation Session
Co-facilitated by MITOS and the Environmental Solutions Initiative
Matching campus-based questions with opportunities for education and research.

Closing remarks

Note: We will end in time to make it to the opening plenary session of Solve at MIT, for those attending.

Welcoming Remarks

• Shaping the Future | Julie Newman, Director, Office of Sustainability

• Reflecting on our Progress | Tony Sharon, Deputy Executive Vice President

Campus Resiliency through Community Design

• Brent D. Ryan, Assoc. Prof. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning & Head of City Design & Dev't Group

• Maryanne Kirkbride, Clinical Director for Campus Life, MIT Medical

• Larry Susskind, Prof. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning

32 percent and beyond: MIT’s role in meeting local and global climate goals

• Moderated by Noelle Eckley Selin, Assoc. Professor, IDSS & EAPS

• Joe Higgins, Director, Infrastructure Business Ops, Office of Exec. VP & Treasurer

• Steven Lanou, Deputy Director, Office of Sustainability

• Ron Prinn, Director & Prof, Center for Global Change Science

Campus as a Living Lab: Reflections from 3 Project Teams

• Moderated by John Fernandez, Dir. of MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative

• AccessMyCommute | John Attanucci, Lecturer & Manager MIT Transit Research Program and Corey Tucker, 3rd year, Master of Sci. in Transport. and Technology & Policy

• MIT Roof Study | Taya Dixon, Senior Planner, Capital Renewal and Isaac LaJoie, 4th year,  Mechanical Engineering

• 2100 Resiliency Planning | Mike Wilson, Urban Studies and Planning and Jacqueline Kuo, 4th year, Mechanical Engineering 

2015 Agenda

Welcoming Remarks: Inventing the Future of MIT Campus Sustainability

• Julie Newman, Director, MIT Office of Sustainability

• Israel Ruiz, MIT Executive Vice President & Treasurer

Julie Newman, Director, MIT Office of Sustainability (slides)

Israel Ruiz, MIT Executive Vice President & Treasurer (slides)

Framing Our Future: How Can MIT be a Game-changing Force for Campus Sustainability?

• Frank O’Sullivan, Director of Research & Analysis, MITEI (Moderator)

• Vladimir Bulovic, Associate Dean for Innovation, Professor of Electrical Engineering, MIT School of Engineering

• Jeremy Poindexter, Graduate student, MIT Department of Materials Science & Engineering, Photovoltaics Research Laboratory

• John Charles, Vice President for MIT Information Systems and Technology (IS&T)

• Henry (Jake) Jacoby, William F. Pounds Professor of Management Emeritus, Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, and Member, MIT Climate Change Conversation Committee

• Bina Venkataraman, Director of Global Policy Initiatives at the Broad Institute and former senior advisor for climate change innovation in the Executive Office of the US President

Working Session 1: Creating Game-changing Plans for MIT Campus Sustainability

Designing Tomorrow’s Campus: Resiliency, Vulnerability, and Adaptation

• Anne Slinn, Executive Director of Research, MIT Center for Global Change Science and Member, MIT Climate Change Conversation Committee (Moderator)
• The Cambridge Context: Understanding Risks and Community Preparedness - Nathalie Beauvais, Project Manager/Lead climate change projects from Kleinfelder Associates. Kleinfelder is developing a comprehensive climate change vulnerability assessment for the City of Cambridge
• Resilient Campus Design - James Wescoat, Aga Khan Professor, MIT Department of Architecture
• Campus Goal Setting for Climate Change – Bert Bland, Associate Vice President of Energy and Sustainability, Cornell University

Working Session 2: Designing Tomorrow's Campus

Closing Remarks

• Peter Senge, Senior Lecturer, MIT Sloan School of Management and Co-Founder, Society for Organizational Learning (SoL) and Academy for Systemic Change

Video of Peter Senge's Remarks