Members Only Roundtable
Here at MIT, sustainability can mean many things. New materials for everything from electronics to infrastructure which are both functional and kind to the environment. “Green” government and corporate policies which regulate energy and greenhouse gas production. Innovative urban planning for a city of the future which is efficient, but also accessible and abundant. Whether stated in economic, environmental, social, or technological terms, sustainability is the capacity to endure – to consume, grow, and thrive – but not to be consumed and perish in the process. Join us for this two-part webinar series which explores how MIT and its community of researchers and corporate members are leading the way in sustainability research.
Part 2: Interactive Discussion: A vision for future policy and technology
This webinar is an interactive, in-depth discussion with MIT’s experts on sustainability.
This webinar follows the Sustainability webinar on March 9.
Dr. Corey Cheng joined the Office of Corporate Relations (OCR) as an Senior Industrial Liaison Officer in December 2011. He has broad interests in science and technology, and uses his technical research experience to better serve ILP members in Asia and the United States.
Cheng spent six years in industrial research at Dolby Laboratories, San Francisco, where he contributed to sound compression (Dolby Digital, AAC, MP3), wireless networking, fingerprinting, and spatial/“3-D audio” technologies. Later, he was Associate Professor and Director of the undergraduate and graduate programs in music engineering technology at the University of Miami, Florida, where he also held a dual appointment in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Cheng holds various U.S. and international patents, has published technical papers, and has presented at various conferences. His technical work includes collaborations and consulting work with the U.S. Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory, Fujitsu-Ten USA, Starkey Laboratories, America Online, and the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). Cheng was an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer for the Circuits and Systems Society from 2009-2010, and was a Westinghouse (Intel) Science Talent Search national finalist many years ago.
Cheng holds degrees in Electrical Engineering (Ph.D., M.S.E. University of Michigan), Electro-Acoustic Music (M.A. Dartmouth College), and physics (B.A. Harvard University).
Personally, Dr. Cheng is an American Born Chinese (ABC), serves as his family’s genealogist, and traces his roots back to Toi San, Guang Dong Province and Xing Hua, Jiang Su Province, China. He also has a background in music, and his electro-acoustic compositions have been presented at various U.S. and international venues.
Irina Sigalovsky works in the Office of Corporate Relations at MIT where she builds mutually beneficial partnerships between corporations and MIT. Dr. Sigalovsky comes to MIT with 10 years of international experience in innovation strategy, technology forecasting and external innovation. Prior to MIT, Irina worked at GEN3 Partners, Inc. as a senior principal collaborating with Fortune 1000 companies to focus their innovation investments, execute strategic innovation agendas, and develop business globally. Throughout her career, Irina has taught at Tufts University, MIT Sloan, X-Prize Lab@MIT, MIT HST, Boston and Harvard Universities.
Eduardo Garrido is a Program Director at the Office of Corporate Relations at MIT.
Eduardo Garrido has a strong multicultural and multidisciplinary background, with deep expertise in higher education, banking and management consulting, acquired in Argentina, Spain and USA. He currently serves as Program Director at the Industrial Liaison Program, Office of Corporate Relations (MIT), the largest conduit between corporations and MIT.
Before joining MIT, Eduardo was the Director of Santander Universities at Santander Bank, N.A., based in Boston, MA. In this role, he managed the institutional and business relationship with 46 universities, mainly in the northeastern US. He also served as Santander US representative at President Obama’s 100,000 Strong in the Americas initiative and the Woman for Africa Foundation, among other relevant global higher education projects, and as Member of the Global President’s Council at NYU and the Advisory Boards of the Deming Cup, ECLA (Columbia University) and Newcastle University Business School.
Before coming to the US, Eduardo had several roles at Banco Santander Rio (Argentina). As Director of Santander Universities, he started the first entrepreneurship initiative at Grupo Santander worldwide, including the launching of a business plan competition, the Technology Innovation Venture Capital Fund, and a national competitiveness development initiative. He also sponsored the first edition of MIT 50K in Argentina. As Director of Organization and Quality at Banco Santander Rio, he led the team that obtained the first Global ISO 9001:2000 certificate for a financial institution in Latin America, certifying all main processes and areas of the bank. He also steered the business process reengineering project for the whole Bank, partnering with Ernst & Young and McKinsey and Co and implemented the Retail Banking new operating model.
Before joining Banco Santander Rio, Eduardo was Senior Manager of the Financial Services and Capital Markets Group at Price Waterhouse Management Consultants in Madrid, Spain. He was the Practice Leader of Business Process Reengineering, Financial Risk Management and Risk Adjusted Profitability Measurement.
Before his assignment at Price Waterhouse he served as Director of Consulting Services at MSA International, Inc. and as Financial Control Manager at Citibank España, S.A.
Eduardo graduated as Industrial Engineer at Universidad de Buenos Aires and has a MBA degree from IE Business School.
What elements of policy and regulation are crucial to the success of a sustainable future? Which is better equipped to implement these policies: government or industry? What is the business of sustainability - when does it make sense to implement these policies, when does it not, and how can you / should you make money from sustainability programs?
Yossi Sheffi is an expert in systems optimization, risk analysis and supply chain management. He is author of a text book and seven award-winning management books. His latest books are: “The New Abnormal: Reshaping Business and Supply Chain Strategy Beyond Covid-19,” (October 1, 2020) and “A Shot in the Arm: How Science, Technology and Supply Chains Converged to Vaccinate the World (October 2021).
Under his leadership, MIT CTL has launched many educational, research, and industry/government outreach programs, including the MIT SCALE network involving six academic centers round the world. In 2015, CTL has launched the on-line Micromaster’s program, enrolling over 480,000 students in 196 countries.
Outside the institute, Dr. Sheffi has consulted with numerous organizations. He has also founded or co-founded five successful companies, all acquired later by large enterprises.
Dr. Sheffi has been recognized in numerous ways in academic and industry forums and won dozens of awards.
He obtained his B.Sc from the Technion in Israel in 1975, and SM and Ph.D. from MIT in 1978.
For more information visit: http://sheffi.mit.edu/
Senior Lecturer, MIT Sloan School of Management Director, Sustainability Initiative at MIT Sloan
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.
Dr. C. Adam Schlosser is currently a Senior Research Scientist in the Center for Global Change Science, and also serves as the Deputy Director for the Joint Program at MIT. His primary interests are the modeling, prediction, and risk assessment of the natural, managed, and built water-energy-land systems using the MIT’s Integrated Global Systems Model (IGSM) that includes model development the Global Land System (GLS) and Water Resource System (WRS). Dr. Schlosser has undertaken studies within the disciplines of hydrology, biogeochemistry, permafrost, snow, weather, and climate as well as their predictability and limits-to-prediction. In doing so, he has worked with a wide range of numerical models, ranging from process-level to global-scale models, as well as observational data for evaluation and complementary analyses. He also has participated in and led international experiments aimed to assess the performance of Earth-system model simulations and predictions. In earlier work, he served as a member of the NASA Energy and Water Cycle Study (NEWS) Science Integration Team to improve our observational capabilities for monitoring, understanding and predicting the Earth’s global water and energy cycles. His current collaborative research activities include: extreme events and associating potential changes and risks on the natural, managed, and built environments; water-resource risk assessments to inform mitigation and adaptation strategies; and renewable-energy resource and intermittency assessments.
Dr. Leonardo Bonanni is the founder and CEO of Sourcemap, the supply chain transparency platform. Leading brands and manufacturers use Sourcemap software to trace their products to the source and ensure that corporate standards are met every step of the way, including zero-deforestation, zero-child labor, and the highest standards for raw materials such as recycled, fair trade and organic. You can see Timberland and The North Face, Mars and Hershey, all publishing their Sourcemap-verified supply chains on open.sourcemap.com, the world's largest supply chain disclosure website. Leo developed Sourcemap as part of his PhD at the MIT Media Lab and has been named among America's 100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics and America's Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs.
Chris Raymond is the chief sustainability officer for The Boeing Company and a member of its Executive Council. As Boeing’s first chief sustainability officer, Raymond is responsible for further advancing Boeing’s approach on environmental, social and governance (ESG) priorities, stakeholder-oriented reporting and company performance. He leads a team, in collaboration with Boeing’s commercial, defense and services businesses and its enterprise functions, that drives and influences the company’s commitment to responsible and inclusive business practices and positive global impact for future generations. Raymond’s Executive Council responsibilities include driving shared awareness of ESG trends, opportunities and targets to guide company decision-making.
Prior to this role, Raymond was the vice president of Sustainability, Strategy and Corporate Development (SSCD) for The Boeing Company, leading the team that shapes the company’s future through market insights, strategies and investments for sustainable innovation, productivity and growth. This group was also responsible for long-term planning, partnerships and acquisitions.
In addition to his SSCD role, Raymond was asked to also lead enterprise-wide efforts to engage, inform and seek feedback from stakeholders following the tragic accidents involving the 737 MAX airplane. Raymond partnered with the Communications team and leaders from across the company to focus on employees, airlines, passengers, suppliers and other valued partners, ensuring their voices and interests were actively represented across all the company’s efforts.
Raymond was previously vice president of Embraer Integration, a role in which he led the efforts for a potential strategic partnership between Boeing and Brazilian aerospace company Embraer. Raymond also previously served as the first vice president and general manager of Autonomous Systems (AS), a division within Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS) focusing on enterprise autonomous aviation and marine technologies, intelligence capabilities, and networking solutions from seabed to space. Prior to his role with AS, Raymond was vice president and general manager of several businesses involving integrated missile defense, sensors and signals intelligence, and undersea capability. He also served as vice president of global Business Development & Strategy for BDS, leading a global team focused on customer solutions, partnerships, new business capture and strategic planning.
Raymond began his career as an engineer at Boeing’s Long Beach, California, operation. He has served in leadership assignments in engineering, supply chain management, program management and operations.
Raymond is an associate fellow in the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a fellow in the Royal Aeronautical Society. He has served on the boards of Defense Acquisition University and the National Defense Industrial Association.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the University of Illinois, as well as a contract management certificate and a Master of Business Administration from the University of California-Irvine.
Which technological innovations are the most important for the materials, energy, and environmental sectors? Which technologies are frontrunners for the sustainability of the future, and which technologies have not fared so well? Which technologies still need to be further incubated in basic research laboratories, which are ready for commercialization? Who should commercialize these technologies – large corporates, small startups, or public-private partnerships – and why?
Karthish Manthiram is the Theodore T. Miller Career Development Chair and Assistant Professor in Chemical Engineering at MIT. The Manthiram Lab at MIT is focused on the molecular engineering of electrocatalysts for the synthesis of organic molecules, including pharmaceuticals, fuels, and commodity chemicals, using renewable feedstocks. Karthish received his bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University and his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from UC Berkeley, where his dissertation research was focused on the development of nanoscale materials for storing solar energy in chemical bonds. Most recently, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the California Institute of Technology, where he worked on developing new ionically-conductive polymers using olefin metathesis. Karthish’s research has been recognized with several awards, including the NSF CAREER Award, DOE Early Career Award, 3M Nontenured Faculty Award, American Chemical Society PRF New Investigator Award, Dan Cubicciotti Award of the Electrochemical Society, and Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science. Karthish’s teaching has been recognized with the C. Michael Mohr Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award, the MIT ChemE Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award, and the MIT Teaching with Digital Technology Award. He serves on the Early Career Advisory Board for ACS Catalysis and on the Advisory Board for both Trends in Chemistry and the MIT Science Policy Review.
Desirée Plata’s research seeks to maximize technology’s benefit to society while minimizing environmental impacts in industrially important practices through the use of geochemical tools and chemical mechanistic insights. Plata earned her doctoral degree in Chemical Oceanography and Environmental Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s Joint Program in Oceanography (2009) and her bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Union College in Schenectady, NY (2003). Plata is an NSF CAREER Awardee (2016), an Odebrecht-Braskem Sustainable Innovation Awardee (2015), a two-time National Academy of Engineers Frontiers of Engineering Fellow (2012, 2020), a two-time National Academy of Sciences Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow (2011, 2013), a Caltech Resnick Sustainability Fellow (2017), and winner of MIT’s Junior Bose Teaching Award (2019),Edgerton Faculty Achievement Award (2021), and Perkins Graduate Advising Award (2021). Having previously served as John J. Lee Assistant Professor of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at Yale University and Associate Director for Research at the Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering at Yale, Plata is now Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT, co-director of the MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium, and Faculty Lead of Belonging, Achievement, and Composition in the MIT School of Engineering. Plata directs MIT’s Methane Network, serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of Spark Climate, and served on the National Academy of Science Engineering and Medicine’s Atmospheric Methane Removal study (recused).Plata is co-founder of Nth Cycle(nthcycle.com), co-founder and President of Sustainable Chemical Resource Advisors LLC, and co-founder and President of Moxair Inc.
Dr. Brent Keller is the Co-Founder & CTO of Via Separations, a start-up working to intensify manufacturing, and eliminate the energy used in industry. Via was recognized as one of C&EN’s 10 startups to watch in 2019, and has received awards from ARPA-E, NSF, and MassCEC. Brent was awarded Forbes 30 under 30 in 2018. He holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from MIT, 4 patents pending, and has been published in 6 scientific publications.
Nina Birger is Vice President of Partnerships at Greentown Labs, North America's largest climatetech incubator with locations in Somerville, MA and Houston, TX. Greentown Labs advances a mission of providing climatetech entrepreneurs with the resources, space. community, and connections that support them in scaling and succeeding. Nina studied English Literature at Tufts University and Oxford and received an MBA from MIT Sloan. In Fall 2020, she guest lectured at Sloan in Managerial Communications.