Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 69.67
Liaison Julie Newman
Submission Date Sept. 30, 2021

STARS v2.2

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
AC-10: Support for Sustainability Research

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 3.00 / 4.00 MIT Office of Sustainability
Director
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution have an ongoing program to encourage students in multiple disciplines or academic programs to conduct sustainability research?:
Yes

A brief description of the student sustainability research program:

Martin Family Society of Fellows for Sustainability
The Martin Family Society of Fellows for Sustainability is a community of MIT doctoral students pursuing sustainability research in a wide array of fields and topics. This Society is funded by a major endowment, which means Martin Fellows are funded every year and will be in perpetuity.

Each year, approximately ten outstanding students are selected to receive one academic year of fellowship support. Recent research topics have included such diverse topics as: aviation emissions, economics of electricity systems, climate adaptation planning games, photovoltaics, coastal vegetation management, and alternative fuel vehicle platforms and market dynamics.

The New Horizon UROP fund
MIT has long fostered a deep and substantial involvement of undergraduate students in research, through the “Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)” started in 1969 by Margaret MacVicar. The New Horizon fund arose from a special gift from John and Karine Begg to support the research of students involved in women’s reproductive health, and endometriosis in particular. Each term (fall, IAP, Spring, Summer), 2-3 UROPS are paired with CGR faculty, graduate students, and postdocs to participate in both basic and translational research. Ten UROPs have participated since (2009), contributing to papers and conference presentations, and gaining professional experience in clinical translational medicine. Snapshots of their projects are highlighted below (UROP student and project title):

Emma S. Gargus
Developing Stable Microwell Arrays in an Argon Environment
Lauren N. Grieco
Creating a Mobile App for Endometriosis Patients and Their Surgeons
Margaret G. Guo
Building Endometriosis Software Application
Zainab A. Lasisi
Systems Analysis of Metalloprotease Dynamics in Cancer Invasion and Endometriosis
Manuel I. Legrand
Protein Engineering for Detecting Invasive Endometriotic Phenotypes: Epitope mapping of EGF sensor
Justin J. Merritt
A Study of MMP Activity in Endometriosis
Nursen J. Ogutveren
Developing Image Processing Tools for Characterizing the Endometrial Microenvironment
Julie Y. Ramseier
Two Activity Based Probe Technologies for Metalloprotease Detection
Mahesh Thapa
Analysis of Gene Expression of Metalloproteinases and its Inhibitors in Deep Endometriosis
Yiping Xing
High Performance Micro-Environment Fabrication

For more information about the New Horizon Fund, please refer to: http://cgr.mit.edu/support/.

Anna and Paul Steinfeld Memorial Fund (Department of Chemistry)
With more and more people realizing that society’s needs for energy and material resources are driving Earth’s natural systems towards a precarious and unsustainable condition, Professor Jeffrey I. Steinfeld, in 2009, established a graduate student fellowship to support students in the Department of Chemistry, with preference for those students carrying out research related to environmental and sustainability issues, and for associated educational travel.

Climate change, water availability, food security, and diminishing biodiversity are just some of the challenges that Professor Steinfled feels students will be dealing with as they pursue their careers, lead their lives, and raise families. ""My own generation,"" he says, ""who must bear some of the responsibility for our present situation, has an obligation to 'pay forward' in order to make the vision of sustainable development a reality."" Professor Steinfeld hopes that this fellowship award will help support graduate student research in addressing these issues, and will encourage them to broaden their studies to appreciate how their research connects to the wider issues of sustainability. For more information, please refer to: http://chemistry.mit.edu/giving-alumni/donor-profiles/ann-and-paul-steinfeld-memorial-fellowship-fund.

MITEI Energy Initiative
The MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) plays an important catalytic role in accelerating responses to many challenges facing our global energy system. We support energy research teams across MIT and forge partnerships with government and industry to analyze challenges and develop cutting-edge solutions that advance technologies vital to addressing climate change and achieving a low-carbon energy future. MITEI also leads Institute energy education efforts and delivers comprehensive analysis to policymakers.
Our accomplishments are facilitated by the investments of member companies, government grants and other funding, and individual donors.
Our education programs for undergraduate and graduate students provide hands-on experience that prepares tomorrow’s energy researchers, engineers, analysts, and policymakers for exciting careers. These programs include the undergraduate Energy
Studies Minor, Energy Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, and the graduate Society of Energy Fellows. For more information, please refer to : http://energy.mit.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/MIT-Energy-UROP-2016.pdf.
The MIT Energy Initiative includes fellowships for graduate students, and paid research opportunities for both undergrad and graduate students.

JWAFS Solutions Program
The J-WAFS Solutions program aims to help MIT faculty and students commercialize breakthrough technologies and inventions by transforming promising ideas at MIT into innovative products and cutting-edge spinout companies. J-WAFS Solutions has the mission of moving water and food technologies from labs at MIT into the commercial world, where they will improve the productivity, accessibility, and sustainability of the world's water and food systems. The J-WAFS Solutions program is funded through a research partnership with Community Jameel, a social enterprise organization with ties to Abdul Latif Jameel, and administered in partnership with the MIT Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation.
The J-WAFS Solutions program is sponsored by Abdul Latif Jameel Community Initiatives, which is represented on the governing committee of the program.

Fellowship for Water Solutions
The Rasikbhai L. Meswani Fellowship for Water Solutions is a doctoral fellowship for students pursuing research related to water and water supply at MIT. Up to two outstanding students will be selected annually to receive fellowship support; the Fellowship currently covers one academic semester. This fellowship was made possible by Elina and Nikhil Meswani and family. This incentive program seeks to support outstanding MIT students who are pursuing solutions to the pressing global water supply challenges of our time.


Does the institution have a program to encourage academic staff from multiple disciplines or academic programs to conduct sustainability research?:
Yes

A brief description of the faculty sustainability research program:

Institute for Data Systems and Society: The Seed Fund Program at IDSS supports innovative, early-stage research projects which explore ideas at the interface of data sciences and statistics, information and decision systems, and social sciences to address societal problems.

Through these grants, IDSS seeks to encourage researchers from across MIT to collaborate and to open up new avenues for interdisciplinary research that bring together the full range of Institute capabilities.

Each proposal should have at least two faculty PIs from two different schools. Ideally each proposal will support an IDSS student, and provide a venue for generating additional external funding to support further collaborations. Proposals addressing a broad range of societal challenges are eligible.


Has the institution published written policies and procedures that give positive recognition to interdisciplinary, transdisciplinary, and multidisciplinary research during faculty promotion and/or tenure decisions?:
No

A copy of the promotion or tenure guidelines or policies:
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The promotion or tenure guidelines or policies:
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Does the institution have ongoing library support for sustainability research and learning?:
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s library support for sustainability research:

MIT Libraries publishes online research guides across a wide range of research areas. Each guide includes information on recent news, peer-reviewed research, policy changes, specific data sources that are useful to the topic, etc. In addition to these online resources, expert library staff are available for each study area to provide practical guidance for the research and learning process.

Sustainability research is supported through the guides covering atmospheric sciences, building technology, energy, environment, environmental engineering, sustainable business, etc. Example guides can be referenced below:

http://libguides.mit.edu/atmos
http://libguides.mit.edu/envi
http://libguides.mit.edu/sustainablebusiness


Website URL where information about the institution’s support for sustainability research is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

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