2024 Annual Symposium

Heat generation is a critical component of numerous industrial processes that produce chemicals, metals, minerals, paper, and food. Generating heat has typically relied on fossil fuels because of the high temperatures required, thereby making electrification challenging. Proposed solutions include alternative heating technologies and fuels, waste heat management, combined heat and power systems, and low- or no-heat technologies (same products with less thermal energy). This session will explore a range of solutions being considered by industry, including emerging thermal storage technologies. 

• Ruaridh Macdonald (Moderator), Research Scientist, MIT Energy Initiative
• Gretchen Baier, R&D Executive External Strategy Leader, Dow
• Luke McLaughlin, Senior R&D Mechanical Engineer, Sandia National Laboratories
• Nestor Sepulveda, Associate Partner, McKinsey & Company

The trucking industry is a crucial driver of the global economy, and today is predominantly powered by fossil fuels. Trucking fleets are under mounting pressure from consumers and regulators to rapidly transition to lower-carbon alternatives, and face unique challenges in doing so. Encouragingly, electrification is approaching viability for some operations, with strong potential to lower emissions as power grids decarbonize. However, widespread adoption of battery electric trucks and the buildout of supporting infrastructure will take time, and it may not be the optimal solution for all fleets. Thanks to their relative compatibility with existing infrastructure and powertrains, low carbon fuels can provide near-term solutions to decarbonize difficult-to-electrify trucking operations. In this discussion, we’ll hear from experts working in industry, academia, and national labs on the opportunity for low-carbon fuels to support and accelerate decarbonization of this critical industry.

• Morgan Andreae (Moderator), Executive Director, Future Energy Systems Center; Eni-MIT Alliance, MIT Energy Initiative
• Jennifer Morris, Principal Research Scientist, MIT Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy and MIT Energy Initiative
• Jared Hightower, SVP of Commercial at ANGI Energy Systems, a Vontier company
• John Pendray, Senior Technical Advisor-Technology Development, Cummins
• James Szybist, Section Head of Propulsion Science at ORNL

Reception and poster session featuring the work of MCSC Impact Fellows, MCSC seed awardees, and others in the MIT community.

What does the physical economy—the flow of materials and energy between sectors—look like? Understanding its scale and connections is necessary to achieve true decarbonization without shifting burdens. In this workshop, we provide an interactive visualization to explore the major flows in the global economy, with a new version including carbon dioxide equivalent emissions. We go into further detail to show how this framework can be used in decision-making to displace fossil fuels. As transportation is electrified, how could transport flows evolve in the future? Where and when will grid upgrades be needed to support increased demand? When liquid fuel or carbon-containing materials are necessary, what challenges or opportunities arise in meeting demand with bio-based sources? What would material and energy flow look like in a future scenario within a more biomass-based system? This workshop will consist of open discussions, so come contribute your thoughts towards designing a fossil-carbon-free future and setting priorities for the transportation and circularity pathways.

• Katie Daehn (Moderator),Research Scientist, MIT Materials Research Laboratory
• Danika MacDonell (Moderator), Impact Fellow, MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium
• Mary Kate Mitchell Lane (Moderator), Impact Fellow, MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium

In this popular workshop participants will have the opportunity to learn about emerging social science research topics of relevance to the rapidly changing landscape of sustainability practice. Small table discussions invite peer-to-peer dialog on social sustainability in consultation with MIT academic experts from social sciences, planning, and community implementation. Topics will include climate justice, designing people-first sustainability solutions, bottom-up data collection, traditional ecological knowledge for climate adaptation, the equitable resilience framework, valuing the future, changing financial stakeholder demands, reputational risk, and the promises and pitfalls of net-zero for institutions.

• Iselle Barrios, Climate Scholar, MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium – “Putting people and places first in designing decarbonization solutions”
• Stephen Hart, Research Associate, MIT Resilient Communities Lab – “Stakeholder engagement with indigenous communities”
• Janelle Knox-Hayes, Lister Brothers Professor of Economic Geography and Planning in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning – “Stakeholder engagement with indigenous communities”
• Laurent Liote, Impact Fellow, MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium – “Policy engagement to facilitate sustainability transitions”
• Tarek Meah, Research Assistant, HASTS – “Carbon dioxide removal as a socially situated practice”
• Scott Odell, Program Scientist, MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative – “Can we mine our way out of climate change?”
• Chris Rabe, Education Program Director, MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative – “Climate knowledge competencies for the workforce”
• Eppa Rixey, PhD Candidate, MIT Sloan School of Management – “The organizational realities of sustainability”
• Michaela Thompson, Lecturer, Department of Anthropology – “Stakeholder facilitation across diverse groups”
• Leela Velautham, Postdoctoral Associate, MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium – “Reputational risk for institutions”
• Michelle Westerlaken, Impact Fellow, MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium – “Creating environmental futures”
• Laura Frye-Levine (Moderator), Research Scientist, MIT Department of Anthropology

Risk assessments for buildings, infrastructure, human health, and ecosystems rely on historical data to predict future performance. As the climate changes, new modeling approaches for evaluating system risk are needed that incorporate climate projections. An initiative at MIT named Bringing Computation to the Climate Challenge (BC3) seeks to do just that by providing accurate and actionable scientific information to decision-makers to inform the most effective mitigation and adaptation strategies. They are accomplishing this by leveraging advances in computational and data sciences to improve the accuracy of climate models, quantifying their uncertainty, and addressing the trade-off between performance and computation time with attention to industry and government stakeholder needs. This session will highlight the latest advances in this effort while exploring the needs of industry in climate risk assessment. Participants will explore the gap between modeling capabilities and industry needs and how the gap might be narrowed.

• Sai Ravela, Principal Research Scientist, MIT Department of Earth Atmosphere and Planetary Sciences
• Campbell Watson, Senior Research Scientist, IBM
• Kommy Weldemariam, Chief Scientist for Worldwide Sustainability, Amazon
• Kevin Huang (Moderator), Research Scientist, MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Preserving and restoring biodiversity are increasingly becoming core objectives of corporate sustainability initiatives. New technologies are being developed with the goal to increase ecosystem understanding through measurement and modeling. This session discusses how technologies like geospatial mapping and modeling, acoustic sensing, biodiversity reporting tools, and bioengineering can both create new biodiversity knowledge as well as pose new challenges at different scales. Panelists from different disciplines will seed conversations to discuss future opportunities and risks of technological innovation in developing strategies for biodiversity restoration.

• Benedetto Marelli, Associate Professor, MIT Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Neda Trifkovic, Assistant Professor, University of Copenhagen
• Campbell Watson, Senior Research Scientist, IBM
• Lydia Zemke, Fellow, Davies Lab, Harvard University
• Amanda Bischoff (Moderator), Impact Fellow, MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium
• Michelle Westerlaken (Moderator), Impact Fellow, MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium

The Climate Project is a catalyst that is accelerating interdisciplinary climate research and implementation at MIT. Leaders of some of the Climate Project’s missions MIT will share their insights on the latest efforts and collaborations, along with the most exciting future activities.

• Christopher Knittel, Associate Dean for Climate and Sustainability, the George P. Shultz Professor, Professor of Applied Economics, MIT Sloan School of Management; Inventing New Policy Approaches Mission Director, Climate Project at MIT
• Miho Mazereeuw, Associate Professor, MIT Department of Architecture; Empowering Frontline Communities Mission Director, Climate Project at MIT
• Elsa Olivetti, Jerry McAfee (1940) Professor in Engineering; Professor, MIT Department of Materials Science and Engineering; Decarbonizing Energy and Industry Mission Director, Climate Project at MIT
• Desiree Plata (Moderator), Associate Professor, MIT Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering; Director, MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium