Accelerating the Transition to a Sustainable Future
To benefit from this discounted rate, guests are encouraged to make their reservations using the provided reservation link by no later than September 20, 2024.
The transition to a sustainable future is driving a fundamental change in the global economy, challenging existing structures while accelerating innovation and forging new markets. To meet this generational challenge, stakeholders across industry, government, and academia are committing to ambitious net-zero goals while seeking to drive growth.
MIT President Sally Kornbluth has called climate change the “greatest scientific and societal challenge of this or any age.” To address this challenge, MIT has developed a plan to “do bigger things faster.” The 2024 MIT Sustainability Conference will highlight leading MIT faculty, researchers, and MIT-connected startups aligned with this mission. Experts will share advancements related to energy generation and storage, carbon capture, and the decarbonization of industry. The impact of AI will be explored, in terms of both its unprecedented energy demands and its potential as a tool in climate mitigation.
Participants are invited to take advantage of collaboration opportunities across MIT’s innovation ecosystem to amplify their impact.
Dr. Srinivasan is a distinguished scientist who received her PhD in Microbiology from The Ohio State University in 2004, where she contributed to the discovery of the 22nd amino acid, Pyrrolysine (2002). She first came to MIT as an NIH Postdoctoral Fellow in Prof. Tom Rajbhandary’s lab, where her research focused on understanding protein synthesis mechanisms in Archaea.
Dr. Srinivasan subsequently moved into the business development and technology licensing space, serving in MIT’s Technology Licensing Office, where she helped commercialize technologies in medical devices and alternative energies. She then moved to UMass Medical School’s Office of Technology Management in 2009 and to Emory University in Atlanta in 2014 as the Director of Public and Private Partnerships for the Woodruff Health Sciences Center. In 2019, Dr. Srinivasan joined Emory’s Office of Corporate Relations as Executive Director, and in 2021, she led the Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations.
Rebekah Miller joined the Office of Corporate Relations team as a Program Director in March 2022. Rebekah brings to the OCR expertise in the life sciences and chemical industries as well as in applications including sensors, consumer electronics, semiconductors and renewable energy.
Prior to joining the OCR, Rebekah worked for over a decade at Merck KGaA, most recently as a Global Key Account Manager in the Semiconductor division. Rebekah also served as Head of Business and Technology Development for the Semiconductor Specialty Accounts, during which time she led strategic planning and technology roadmapping.
While at Merck KGaA, Miller established a strong track record in industry-university partnerships, corporate entrepreneurship, and innovation management, with experience in roles spanning Technology Scouting, Alliance Management, and New Business Development. Early in her career, she led early phase R&D projects as a member of the Boston Concept Lab, which focused on technology transfer from academia.
Miller earned her B.A. in Chemistry and Biology from Swarthmore College and her Ph.D. in Chemistry, with a Designated Emphasis in Nanoscale Science and Engineering, from the University of California, Berkeley. She first joined MIT as a postdoctoral associate in the Bioengineering and Material Science Departments.
Yuri Ramos brings 20 years of international experience, having worked with Information Technology for multinational companies in his native Brazil, throughout South America and in the United States. Before MIT, Yuri was with Santander Bank N.A., where he first worked as a Sr. Manager for online and mobile initiatives, and then as Chief of Staff for the CIO of Digital Channels.
Prior to Santander, Yuri was the co-founder and CEO of 2 startups in the EdTech space. In both endeavors he was responsible for strategy, business development and operations. Before this entrepreneurial period, Yuri held positions at Universo Online – Brazil’s largest Internet portal - as Director of Operations and Senior Manager; at ACISION as Engineering Manager (Latin America Operations) and Senior Project Manager; and at Nortel Networks as Project Manager.
Yuri earned his Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics at the University of Brasilia, and his MBA at MIT where he was a Sloan Fellow.
Institute Innovation Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Former Director of the White House National Economic Council
Brian Deese is the current Institute Innovation Fellow at MIT and the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, where he is focused on researching and developing strategies to address climate change and promote sustainable economic growth.
As the former Director of the White House National Economic Council, Deese advised President Biden on domestic and international economic policy and coordinated the economic agenda of the Biden‐Harris Administration. A former senior advisor to President Obama, Deese was instrumental in engineering the rescue of the U.S. auto industry and negotiating the landmark Paris Climate Agreement. Deese is a crisis‐tested advisor with broad experience in accelerating economic prosperity, empowering working Americans, and harnessing the economic opportunities that come from building a clean energy economy and combating the climate crisis.
Previously, Deese also served as the global head of sustainable investing at BlackRock, where he worked to drive greater focus on climate and sustainability risk in investment portfolios and create investment strategies to help accelerate the low‐carbon transition. During the Obama‐Biden Administration, Deese served as acting director of the Office of Management and Budget and deputy director of the National Economic Council.
Deese received his B.A. from Middlebury College and his JD from Yale Law School.
The Climate Project at MIT is a major new effort to change the trajectory of global climate outcomes for the better over the next decade. It will focus MIT’s strengths on six broad climate-related areas where progress is urgently needed. The mission directors in these fields, representing diverse areas of expertise, will collaborate with faculty and researchers across MIT and each other to accelerate solutions that address climate change.
This session will feature MIT Climate Mission Directors sharing their perspectives and near-term plans for impact.
George P. Shultz Professor Professor, Applied Economics Associate Dean for Climate and Sustainability MIT Climate Project Mission Director for “Inventing New Policy Approaches”
Christopher Knittel is the Associate Dean for Climate and Sustainability, the George P. Shultz Professor, and a Professor of Applied Economics at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Prior to MIT Sloan, Knittel taught at the University of California, Davis, and Boston University. His research focuses on industrial organization, environmental economics, and applied econometrics.
Knittel is an associate editor of The American Economic Journal— Economic Policy, The Journal of Industrial Economics, and the Journal of Energy Markets. His research has appeared in The American Economic Review, The Review of Economics and Statistics, The Journal of Industrial Economics, The Energy Journal, and other academic journals. He also is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research in the Productivity, Industrial Organization, and Energy and Environmental Economics groups.
Knittel holds a BA in economics and political science from California State University, Stanislaus; an MA in economics from the University of California, Davis; and a PhD in economics from the University of California, Berkeley.
Professor, MIT Department of Architecture Director, Building Technology Program MIT Climate Project Mission Director for “Building and adapting healthy, resilient cities”
Christoph Reinhart is a building scientist and architectural educator working in the field of sustainable building design and environmental modeling. At MIT he is leading the Sustainable Design Lab (SDL), an inter-disciplinary group with a grounding in architecture that develops design workflows, planning tools, and metrics to evaluate the environmental performance of buildings and neighborhoods. He is also a managing member of Solemma, a technology company, and Harvard University spinoff and served as strategic development advisor and cofounder for MIT spinoff mapdwell until it joined Palmetto Clean Technology in 2021. Products originating from SDL and Solemma are used in practice and education in over 90 countries.
Before joining MIT in 2012, Christoph led the sustainable design concentration area at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design where the student forum voted him the 2009 Teacher of the Year for the Department of Architecture. From 1997 to 2008 Christoph worked as a staff scientist at the National Research Council of Canada and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Germany. He has authored over 160 peer-reviewed scientific articles including two textbooks on daylighting and seven book chapters. His work has been supported by a variety of organizations from the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, and the Governments of Canada, Germany, Kuwait, and Portugal to Autodesk, Exelon, Kalwall, Philips, Saint Gobain, Shell, and United Technology Corporation.
Christoph’s work has been recognized with various awards among them a Fraunhofer Bessel Prize by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2018), the IBPSA-USA Distinguished Achievement Award (2016), a Star of Building in Science award by Buildings4Change magazine (2013) and seven best paper awards. Mapdwell has been recognized with FastCompany’s Design by Innovation 2015 award for Data Visualization as well as a Sustainia 100 award. Christoph is a physicist by training and holds a doctorate in architecture from the Technical University of Karlsruhe.
Associate Professor, MIT Department of Architecture Associate Head for Strategy and Equity MIT Climate Project Mission Director for “Empowering Frontline Communities”
Architect and Landscape architect Miho Mazereeuw is an associate professor of architecture and urbanism at MIT and is the director of the Urban Risk Lab. 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.
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 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, MIT Civil and Environmental Engineering MIT Climate Project Mission Director for “Wild Cards”
Benedetto Marelli is an associate professor in MIT’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. His research group focuses on structural biopolymers, nanomanufacturing, and self-assembly. By using biofabrication strategies, his group designs bio-inspired materials that work at the biotic-abiotic interface to mitigate and prevent environmental impact with applications in precision agriculture, food safety, and food security. His interests include materials-based solutions to reduce food waste, mitigate environmental stress, and enable the delivery of bioactive cargo molecules in plants.
Marelli’s honors include an NSF Career Award, an Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Program Award, and a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. Marelli earned a BE and an MS in biomedical engineering from Polytechnic University of Milan, and a PhD in materials science and engineering from McGill University.
Associate Professor, Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences MIT Climate Project Mission Director for “Restoring the atmosphere and protecting the land and oceans”
Andrew Babbin is a marine biogeochemist, working on the nitrogen cycle, especially on the processes that return fixed nitrogen in the ocean back to nitrogen gas. This work is relevant, for instance for understanding the controls on marine productivity and the ocean’s potential for storing carbon. Over his career, Andrew has made major contributions to this field, especially with regard to the contributions of anaerobic metabolisms (e.g. ammonium oxidation (anammox) and denitrification) in the ocean. He aims to expand his observational biogeochemical studies by using microfluidic devices to reproduce a variety of chemical conditions simultaneously and finely control the chemistry experienced by microbes. In addition to opening exciting new lines of research at EAPS—at the interface of physical-, chemical-, and (micro)biological oceanography and climate—his recruitment strengthens partnerships across campus (e.g. with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering) and beyond (e.g. with the MIT-WHOI Joint Program).
Babbin received a BS degree from Columbia University (2008) and his doctoral degree (2014) from Princeton University. He came to MIT in November 2014 as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Civil and Environmental Engineering before joining the EAPS faculty in January 2017. His lab group conducts research across a variety of avenues, coupling observational oceanography with laboratory experiments to understand the chemical underpinnings that control microbes in the environment and how these microbes in turn reshape Earth’s climate.
Senior Scientist and Principal Investigator, Supercomputing Center at MIT Lincoln Laboratory
Dr. Vijay Gadepally is a Senior Scientist and Principal Investigator at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Lincoln Laboratory and a Visiting Scientist with MIT Connection Science. At Lincoln Laboratory, Vijay leads the research efforts of the Lincoln Laboratory Supercomputing Center. Vijay’s research interests include high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, high-performance databases, and environmentally-friendly computing. Vijay is also the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Radium Cloud – a company focused on providing high-performance cloud computing for AI workloads – and advises multiple early-stage venture-backed startups. Vijay holds a M.Sc. and PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from The Ohio State University and a B.Tech degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. Vijay’s research in high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, and environmentally-friendly computing has been featured in numerous articles in the popular press and has received numerous scholarly awards at various conferences. In 2017, Vijay was named to AFCEA’s inaugural 40 under 40 list and was awarded MIT Lincoln Laboratory’s Early Career Technical Achievement Award. In 2011, Vijay received an Outstanding Graduate Student Award at The Ohio State University.
The energy requirements of data centers in the United States is on the order of millions of tons of carbon dioxide annually, and the demand is forecasted to increase significantly over the coming years. In this presentation, Dr. Vijay Gadepally of MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory will share strategies for reducing energy use of high-performance computing applications, improving energy transparency, and incentivizing data center users to reduce their carbon footprint.
Assistant Professor, MIT EECS and LIDS Co-founder and Chair, Climate Change AI
Ariadna Rodenstein is a Program Manager at MIT Startup Exchange. She joined MIT Corporate Relations as an Events Leader in September 2019 and is responsible for designing and executing startup events, including content development, coaching and hosting, and logistics. Ms. Rodenstein works closely with the Industrial Liaison Program (ILP) in promoting collaboration and partnerships between MIT-connected startups and industry, as well as with other areas around the MIT innovation ecosystem and beyond.
Prior to working for MIT Corporate Relations, she worked for over a decade at Credit Suisse Group in New York and London, in a few different roles in event management and as Director of Client Strategy. Ms. Rodenstein has combined her experience in the private sector with work at non-profits as a Consultant and Development Director at New York Immigration Coalition, Immigrant Defense Project, and Americas Society/Council of the Americas. She also served as an Officer on the Board of Directors of the Riverside Clay Tennis Association in New York for several years. Additionally, she earned her B.A. in Political Science and Communications from New York University, with coursework at the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey in Mexico City, and her M.A. in Sociology from the City University of New York.
Co-Founder & CEO, Electrified Thermal Solutions, Inc.
Daniel Stack is the Co-founder and CEO of Electrified Thermal Solutions, Inc. (ETS), a new technology startup that is decarbonizing industry with electrified heat. He earned his PhD in Nuclear Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with a specialization in energy conversion and thermal energy storage. His doctoral inventions form the foundation of ETS and its flagship product, the Joule Hive™ thermal battery. Daniel is an Activate fellow of the 2021 Boston cohort, an awardee of ARPA-E SEED, and a representative on the Long Duration Energy Storage Council. He has authored and co-authored a variety of papers on electrified thermal energy storage in academic and industry journals, and has spoken at various energy conferences, workshops, and panels on repowering industrial processes and power plants with electrified thermal energy storage.
Co-Founder & CEO, 3D Architech
Kai Narita is an innovator and engineer leading the 3D printing technology development. He has a Ph.D. in Materials Science from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and received his master’s in Engineering and bachelor’s degree from the Tokyo Institute of Technology.
Co-Founder & CEO, Helix Carbon
Evan Haas is CEO & Co-Founder of Helix Carbon, an industrial decarbonization company that turns CO2 into carbon-negative industrial chemicals. Prior to Helix, he was the Senior Fellow at E14 Fund, the MIT-affiliated venture fund that invests in deep technology startups, and a consultant at BCG where he focused on military aerospace and climate technology commercialization & policy with Breakthrough Energy and the Biden Administration. Evan holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Yale University an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering and MBA from MIT.
SVP of Business Development, Boston Metal
Adam Rauwerdink is the SVP of Business Development at Boston Metal, a leader in steel decarbonization technology. Rauwerdink joined Boston Metal as one of the earliest employees and has subsequently raised over $300M in equity, has developed partnerships with global industry leaders such as ArcelorMittal and BMW, and has earned countless awards for the company, including the 2023 North America Company of the Year from the Cleantech Group and the 2024 TIME100 Most Influential Companies. Prior to Boston Metal, he led global development at several utility-scale energy storage companies. Rauwerdink holds a bachelor’s in engineering from the University of Connecticut and a PhD in engineering and innovation from Dartmouth College.
Founder and CEO, Noya
Josh Santos is co-founder and CEO of Noya, an Oakland-based startup that is reversing climate change by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Josh holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from MIT and has experience building B2B products and services from scratch, scaling technology as a Project Manager on the Tesla Model 3 program, and leading R&D teams as the first ever Program Manager for Harley Davidson’s electric vehicle division. In his free time, Josh enjoys reading and sailing in the San Francisco Bay.
Co-Founder & CEO, Sesame Sustainability
Emre Gençer is a principal research scientist at the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) and Co-Founder and CEO of Sesame Sustainability.
Gencer is the lead developer and chief architect of a novel software platform called Sustainable Energy Systems Analysis Modeling Environment (SESAME), which provides comprehensive cost and sustainability assessment for the converging electric power, transportation, and industrial sectors to decision makers and technology analysts with high technological, temporal, and geospatial resolution. He was the lead on the chemical storage chapter of The Future of Energy Storage report and co-lead on the thermal storage chapter.
Gencer holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University. He received both a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering and a B.Sc. in Mathematics from Bogazici University in Istanbul, Turkey.
Co-Founder, Femto Energy TEPCO Professor, MIT Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering
Jacopo Buongiorno is the TEPCO Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering at MIT, where he teaches a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses in thermo-fluids engineering and nuclear reactor engineering. Jacopo has published over 70 journal articles in the areas of reactor safety and design, two-phase flow and heat transfer, and nanofluid technology. For his research work and his teaching at MIT, he won several awards, including, recently, the Ruth and Joel Spira Award (MIT, 2015), and the Landis Young Member Engineering Achievement Award (American Nuclear Society, 2011). He is the Director of the Center for Advanced Energy Systems (CANES), which is one of eight Low-Carbon-Energy Centers (LCEC) of the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI), as well as the Director of the MIT study on the Future of Nuclear Energy in a Carbon-Constrained World. Jacopo is a consultant for the nuclear industry in the area of reactor thermal-hydraulics and a member of the Accrediting Board of the National Academy of Nuclear Training. He is also a member of the Naval Studies Board (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine), the American Nuclear Society (including service on its Special Committee on Fukushima in 2011-2012), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and a participant in the Defense Science Study Group (2014-2015).
Emmanuel Kasseris is the co-founder and CEO of Emvolon, an MIT spin-off, that converts greenhouse gas emissions into carbon-negative fuels and chemicals like green methanol and green ammonia. Emmanuel has over twenty years of experience in managing advanced technology projects and raising capital in the energy industry. He has led multiple new energy technologies from concept to full-scale pilot implementation while at Chevron and ConocoPhillips. Emmanuel holds a M.Sc. and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT.
Epoch Foundation Professor of International Management, Emeritus, MIT Sloan School of Management
This session will explore the critical need for innovation across various sectors to enhance sustainability in industrial processes. Participants will examine the interplay between advanced technologies, progressive public policies, and innovative business models that can drive significant improvements in environmental performance. Through case studies and expert insights, attendees will gain a comprehensive understanding of how integrating these elements can lead to transformative changes, ultimately fostering a more sustainable future for industries worldwide. Join us to uncover practical strategies and collaborative approaches that can facilitate this essential transition.
Elisabeth Reynolds is a Partner in Unless, an investment firm focused on industrial transformation, and a Lecturer in the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning. She was Special Assistant to the President for Manufacturing and Economic Development at the National Economic Council until October, 2022. During her time at the White House, she helped lead the Administration’s work on supply chain challenges, national manufacturing strategy, regional economic development and the broader industrial policy agenda. Before working in the Biden Administration, Reynolds was the executive director of the MIT Industrial Performance Center and co-led, with Professors David Autor and David Mindell, the MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future. In both roles, she worked on manufacturing-related issues including growing innovative firms to scale and technology adoption by small and large firms.
Professor, Materials Science and Engineering
Professor Chiang earned a BS in materials science and engineering from MIT in 1980 and a doctorate in ceramics from MIT in 1985. Today, his laboratory’s work ranges from basic research to process and prototype development. He has brought several laboratory discoveries to commercialization, including high-power lithium iron phosphate batteries, more efficient lithium-ion battery manufacturing processes, batteries for long-duration grid storage, and electrochemical cement production. He co-directs a flagship project under MIT Climate Grand Challenges on the decarbonization of industrial materials production.
VP of Policy and Business Development, Sublime Systems
Joe Hicken is Vice President of Business Development and Policy at Sublime Systems, a company on a mission to have a swift and massive impact on global CO2 emissions with a breakthrough process that can manufacture cement without fossil fuels or limestone. At Sublime, Joe leads the company’s efforts to engage with national leaders dramatically reducing their greenhouse gas emissions profile with low-embodied carbon construction materials. Prior to his work in climate technology for the last 6 years, Joe spent a decade in Washington DC, as an Obama Administration political appointee at the GSA and the Pentagon, and as a staff member in the US House of Representatives.
Executive Director, MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium
Computing & Climate Impact Fellow, MIT Climate & Sustainability Consortium (MCSC)
Noman Bashir is the Computing & Climate Impact Fellow at MIT Climate & Sustainability Consortium (MCSC) and an affiliate with MIT CSAIL. Before joining MIT, he was a postdoctoral research fellow at UMass Amherst. He also earned his Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from UMass Amherst in 2022.
Noman's research focuses on decarbonizing societal infrastructure, including large-scale data centers, distributed edge computing systems, and cyber-physical energy systems. His work has made impactful contributions towards enhancing the efficiency and performance of energy systems, developing equitable approaches to decarbonize various societal sectors, reducing the cost of cloud computing for end-users, and enhancing the sustainability of computing.
The rapid expansion of generative artificial intelligence (Gen-AI) neglects consideration of negative effects alongside expected benefits. This incomplete cost calculation promotes unchecked growth and a risk of unjustified techno-optimism with potential environmental consequences, including expanding demand for computing power, larger carbon footprints, and an accelerated depletion of natural resources. The current siloed focus on efficiency improvements results instead in increased adoption without fundamentally considering the vast sustainability implications of Gen-AI.
In this talk, I will propose that responsible development of Gen-AI requires a focus on sustainability beyond only efficiency improvements and necessitates benefit-cost evaluation frameworks that encourage (or require) Gen-AI to develop in ways that support social and environmental sustainability goals alongside economic opportunity. However, a comprehensive value consideration is complex and requires detailed analysis, coordination, innovation, and adoption across diverse stakeholders. Engaging stakeholders, including technical and sociotechnical experts, corporate entities, policymakers, and civil society, in a benefit-cost analysis would foster development in the most urgent and impactful directions while reducing unsustainable practices. More details are in our white paper, which is accessible at MIT Gen-AI Sustainability White Paper.
Postdoctoral Associate, MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Dr. Björn Lütjens is a postdoctoral associate in the MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, where he develops advanced machine learning approaches to tackle climate change, together with Prof. Raffaele Ferrari and Prof. Noelle Selin. To overcome the computational complexity of climate models, his focus is on reshaping machine learning models into fast copies, or 'surrogates', of climate models, without sacrificing the physical consistency of these surrogates. His research is part of the MIT Climate Grand Challenge BC3. Dr. Lütjens’ research has won grants from NSF, Climatechange.ai, ESA, Portugal Space, NASA, IBM, Microsoft, NVIDIA, MIT Pkg, and MIT Legatum. He has earned a Ph.D. from MIT with Prof. Dava Newman in machine learning and earth system modeling, an M.Sc. from MIT with Prof. Jon How in safe and robust deep reinforcement learning, and a B.Sc. from Technical University of Munich in Engineering Science.
Climate models are computationally very expensive for exploring the impacts of climate policies. For example, simulating the impacts of a single policy emission scenario can take multiple weeks and cost hundreds of thousands of USD in computing. Compellingly, deep learning models can now forecast the weather in seconds rather than hours in comparison to conventional weather models and are being proposed to achieve similar reductions by approximating climate models. Climate approximations or emulators, however, have already been developed since the 1990s and I will present how we implemented a linear regression-based emulator that outperforms a novel 100M-parameter transformer-based deep learning emulator on the most common climate emulation benchmark. I will use our results to discuss more nuanced insights highlighting how chaotic dynamics influence emulator performance and use cases where deep-learning emulators can improve existing linear emulators.
Impact Fellow, MIT Climate & Sustainability Consortium
Dr. Danika MacDonell is an MCSC Impact Fellow. She holds a PhD in Experimental High-Energy Physics from the University of Victoria, where she co-led a novel search for dark matter using data from the international ATLAS experiment located at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN and worked to advance computationally reproducible research at the LHC.
Drawing on a robust background in computational analysis, Dr. MacDonell’s major focus as an Impact Fellow is to apply system-level analysis to inform the development of decarbonization pathways in the areas of heavy-duty trucking, shipping and aviation. These tough-to-decarbonize transportation modes are critical drivers of the global economy, but actionable solutions are urgently needed to prevent them from dominating global greenhouse gas emissions in the coming decades.
This presentation shares the journey of creating an interactive geospatial decision support tool in close collaboration with industry and academic partners of the MIT Climate & Sustainability Consortium. The tool leverages comprehensive public data on freight flows, costs, emissions, infrastructure, and regulatory incentives. Integrating key insights and methodologies from our partners, it aims to assist trucking industry stakeholders in identifying and assessing strategies to transition fleets to low-carbon energy carriers.
Associate Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ju Li is the Tokyo Electric Power Company Professor in Nuclear Engineering and a Professor at the MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Prof. Li’s group investigates the mechanical, electrochemical, and transport behaviors of materials, as well as novel means of energy storage and conversion. His research has led to advances in materials with applications in nuclear energy, batteries, and electrolyzers—and near- and long-term implications for decarbonizing the planet. His group also works on various aspects of computing, from the development of the first universal neural network interatomic potential to energy-efficient neuromorphic computing hardware.
Li is a recipient of the 2005 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the 2006 Materials Research Society Outstanding Young Investigator Award, and the TR35 award from Technological Review. He was elected Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2014 and a Fellow of the Materials Research Society in 2017. Li is the chief organizer of the yearly MIT A+B Applied Energy Symposia that aims to develop practical solutions to global climate change with “A-Action before 2040” and “B-Beyond 2040” technologies.
Carbon efficiency is one of the most pressing problems of carbon dioxide electroreduction today. While there have been studies on anion exchange membrane electrolyzers with carbon dioxide (gas) and bipolar membrane electrolyzers with bicarbonate (aqueous) feedstocks, both suffer from low carbon efficiency. In anion exchange membrane electrolyzers, this is due to carbonate anion crossover, whereas in bipolar membrane electrolyzers, the exsolution of carbon dioxide (gas) from the bicarbonate solution is the culprit. Here, we first elucidate the root cause of the low carbon efficiency of liquid bicarbonate electrolyzers with thermodynamic calculations and then achieve carbon-efficient carbon dioxide electro- reduction by adopting a near-neutral-pH cation exchange membrane, a glass fiber intermediate layer, and carbon dioxide (gas) partial pressure management. We convert highly concentrated bicarbonate solution to solid formate fuel with a yield (carbon efficiency) of greater than 96%. A device test is demonstrated at 100 mA cmÀ2 with a full-cell voltage of 3.1 V for over 200 h. ["A carbon-efficient bicarbonate electrolyzer," Cell Reports Physical Science 4 (2023) 101662]
Jason Jay is a Senior Lecturer and Director of the MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative. He teaches executive and masters-level courses on strategy, innovation, and leadership for sustainable business. He has helped secure MIT Sloan's position as a leader in the field of sustainability through teaching, research, and industry engagement. Dr. Jay’s publications have appeared in the Academy of Management Journal, California Management Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Greenbiz, and World Economic Forum. With Gabriel Grant, he is the author of the international bestseller Breaking Through Gridlock: The Power of Conversation in a Polarized World. Dr. Jay also works as a facilitator for companies, organizations, and business families, supporting high quality conversation and shared commitment to ambitious sustainability goals. His clients have included EFG Asset Management, Novartis, Bose, Environmental Defense Fund, BP and the World Bank.
Global Head of Sustainability Strategy, MFS Investment Management
Vishal Hindocha joined MFS in 2016 and is a Senior Managing Director and the Global Head of the Strategy and Insights Group. His prior roles at MFS include being the Global Head of Investment Solutions and the Global Head of Sustainability Strategy. He currently leads a team that works closely with clients around the world to develop solutions and provide insights to help educate and empower them on a broad array of investment trends and best practices. Previously, he worked at Willis Towers Watson for 9 years as senior investment consultant and team leader. Hindocha is a CFA charterholder, holds CFA Society UK’s Certificate in ESG Investing and Climate Change Investing. He also holds the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership’s Certificate in Sustainable Business.
Chief Information And Innovation Officer (CIIO), Ferrovial
Dimitris Bountolos is the Chief Information and Innovation Officer at Ferrovial, a prominent global infrastructure group. With an extensive background spanning over 20 years, he is an expert in leading comprehensive change management and transformation programs across various industries. As an innovative entrepreneur, Dimitris has founded and partnered in several start-ups in the cutting-edge technology sectors, including ventures in space tourism, satellite micro-launchers, augmented reality, and drones.
In the airline industry, his leadership roles have included Vice President of Customer Experience and Madrid Airport Director at Iberia Airlines, and Chief Digital Officer at Latam Airlines. Dimitris is widely recognized for his contributions to innovation, digital transformation, and sustainability within organizations. He has served as an advisor to NASA's Chief Innovation Officer for several years and as a Global Advisor to the strategic consultancy firm McKinsey, specializing in travel, transport, and logistics.
Dimitris earned his master’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Granada and has graduated from elite senior management programs at Harvard, MIT, Stanford, IESE, and ESADE. He is a member of several advisory boards, bringing a broad, interdisciplinary, and cross-sectoral perspective to his work, including the Bankinter Foundation, EIT Digital, and as President of the Advisory Board of CIONET, and a member of the CIO Council of the Wall Street Journal, among others.
Dimitris has a proven track record in developing and implementing high-impact projects, capturing new business opportunities, and introducing new business models across many sectors.
Executive Director, The Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment Senior Strategic Advisor, MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
POSCO Professor of Metallurgy, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Cem Tasan is the POSCO Professor of Metallurgy in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where his research explores the boundaries of physical metallurgy, solid mechanics, and in situ microscopy to design new alloys with exceptional damage resistance. A major focus is developing new in situ characterization tools and methods; improving the physical understanding of transformation, deformation, and damage of micro-mechanisms in metallic materials; and designing damage-resistant microstructures and alloys. Prof. Tasan was a 2023 Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS) Solutions Grant winner for his project titled 'Solid-state scrap processing: a pathway to reduce water consumption in steelmaking drastically.
Solid state consolidation has tremendous potential for steel making from steel scrap, without remelting. In this talk, the scientific fundamentals and engineering solutions associated with a particular process invented at MIT will be introduced, focusing on the successful examples of several different ferrous and non-ferrous alloys.
Associate Professor, MIT Civil and Environmental Engineering Associate Professor, MIT Architecture
Caitlin Mueller is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering’s Building Technology Program, where she leads the Digital Structures research group and co-directs the Structural Design Lab.
She is a researcher, designer, and educator working at the interface of architecture and structural engineering. Mueller’s research focuses on developing new computational methods and tools for synthesizing architectural and structural intentions in early-stage design. She also works in the field of digital fabrication, with a focus on linking high structural performance with new methods of architectural making. In addition to her digital work, she conducts research on the nature of collaboration between architects and engineers from a historical perspective.
New computational design and digital fabrication methods for innovative, high-performance buildings and structures will enable a more sustainable and equitable future. By focusing on the creative interface of architecture, structural engineering, and computation, Prof. Mueller’s research group has developed strategies for unconventional material use in building structures.
This presentation will focus on algorithmic design approaches, such as those incorporating underutilized wood sources and reassembleable concrete parts. The PixelFrame system, for example, targets circularity strategies for reducing the material footprint of concrete. Connections are dry-jointed, avoiding the use of grout or mortar. The conventionally fused assembly of steel and concrete is separated, allowing each material to respond independently to tensile and compressive forces without impeding the longevity or function of the other. Through structural element reuse, PixelFrame can achieve more than 50% embodied carbon savings up-front.
PhD Graduate Student, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Sayandeep received an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from MIT in 2023, and a B.Eng. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities in 2020. He is currently a PhD candidate under the supervision of Prof. William H. Green and is focused on developing hydrogen carriers and researching their utilization to drive decarbonization efforts in the energy and transportation sectors. His work spans the development of experimental powertrain designs, simulation of energy systems, and techno-economic assessment of novel low-carbon processes.
Hydrogen is a promising fuel to drive the decarbonization of long-haul trucking. However, the high cost of distribution as a compressed gas or cryogenic liquid has stunted its wide-scale adoption. Liquid Organic Hydrogen Carriers (LOHCs) can be a cost-competitive option but have inefficiencies from endothermic dehydrogenation and compression needs. We are building a novel powertrain system to mitigate these drawbacks and establish LOHC as a cost-competitive diesel alternative.