News and Blog Landing | MIT Sustainability

The community space of the Volpe plan pictured in MIT’s master plan.
Credit: Design Distill

MIT News Office

October 7, 2021

Volpe project prepares for design phase

Substantive community benefits, strong equity and inclusion practices, and ample public open space garner city and community support for MIT’s master plan.

As climate change amplifies the frequency and intensity of hurricanes and other extreme events in the United States and around the world, and the populations and economies they threaten grow and change, there is a critical need t...

MIT News Office

October 4, 2021

New “risk triage” platform pinpoints compounding threats to US infrastructure

Modeling tool showcases emerging MIT Joint Program research focus on multi-sector dynamics.

PhD student Katarina Boukin and junior Eva Then were instrumental to the Porosity Hunt, capturing data around campus and synthesizing it for future use. Photo: Ken Strzepek

MIT News Office

October 3, 2021

For campus “porosity hunters,” climate resilience is the goal

With the MIT campus as a test bed, a citizen science effort provides lessons well beyond MIT.

Ana Pantelic is the new executive director of MIT D-Lab, known around the world for its approach to participatory design in resource-constrained settings. “Persistent poverty is a consequence of power imbalance,” says Pantelic...

MIT News Office

October 1, 2021

Ana Pantelic appointed executive director of MIT D-Lab

An international development practitioner, academic researcher, and social entrepreneur, Pantelic will help guide D-Lab into its third decade.

Philosophy matters to Conti not only because he is interested in ethics, but because he believes that philosophy of language, which can illuminate how humans communicate, will help him advance convincing arguments on behalf of goo...

MIT News Office

September 29, 2021

The language of change

Preparing for a career advancing the science and policy of climate issues, junior Ryan Conti focuses on math, computer science, and the philosophy of language.

Researchers at the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub have found that several strategies can cut pavement emissions by 20 percent.

MIT News Office

September 28, 2021

Making roadway spending more sustainable

Current and former MIT researchers find novel tools can improve the sustainability of road networks on a limited budget.

Whenever organic matter is burned, such as in a wildfire, a power plant, a car’s exhaust, or in daily cooking, the combustion releases polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) — a class of pollutants that is known to cause lun...

MIT News Office

September 22, 2021

Study: Global cancer risk from burning organic matter comes from unregulated chemicals

The researchers hope scientists and regulators will consider a broader class of compounds in evaluating cancer risk due to PAH exposure.

Each region of the United States has unique characteristics that will cause building emissions to vary widely across the entire nation. An MIT team sought to understand — and respond to — these regional variations.
...

MIT News Office

September 21, 2021

Predicting building emissions across the US

MIT researchers have analyzed greenhouse gas emissions from future buildings across America and outlined region-specific solutions.

MIT has appointed more than a dozen faculty to its new Climate Nucleus, a committee established by the Institute’s “Fast Forward” climate action plan. The committee will be co-chaired by professors Noelle Selin, left, and Ann...

MIT News Office

September 17, 2021

MIT appoints members of new faculty committee to drive climate action plan

Professors Noelle Selin and Anne White will co-chair the Climate Nucleus, charged with managing and implementing MIT’s new plan.