Scaling Decarbonized Manufacturing Technologies through Communication and Community Engagement 

Glen Junor, who completed the MCSC Impact Fellow Program in 2023, is now the Public Sector Program Manager at Sublime Systems Inc., a company that is developing a breakthrough process to make low-carbon cement. He leads Sublime’s grant-writing efforts and coordinates public-sector deployment of Sublime’s products – a role that uniquely blends his interests and passions in chemistry and science, climate and sustainability, equity, and collaboration.   

During his time at the MCSC, Glen, who holds a PhD in Chemistry, learned about the importance of bringing in the voices and opinions of the community early when developing and implementing climate solutions. He has continued to prioritize this as he supports Sublime’s community engagement efforts and bridges communication between scientists, engineers, and public audiences. His background and experience in the chemistry space have been invaluable, as he translates the company’s technical achievements and plans to the community as well as various teams internally.  

“My time spent with social scientists and humanities experts at the MCSC challenged my assumptions about how technology can impact our world and better the lives of those around us,” explained Glen. “I was humbled by my MCSC colleagues who hammered home the facts around the long history of failed technological deployment due to inadequate or insincere consideration of community impacts.” 

At Sublime, one of the very first projects Glen worked on involved engaging the community around the site of the company’s first commercial factory, before signing a lease for the land. “We brought them together with our engineers early on in the process to hear their concerns and adjust our priorities to align with theirs,” added Glen. 

Glen has long been passionate about cross-disciplinary relationship-building and problem-solving.  

During his PhD program at the University of California, San Diego, he gained a view of both the scientific and human obstacles impeding progress towards a sustainable future, and the perspectives, connections, and collaborations needed to address them. At the MCSC, he built a network of MIT faculty and researchers, as well as industry representatives, to develop scalable solutions in carbon capture and storage.  

He also worked closely with all of the other Impact Fellows – learning and growing from their diverse knowledge and areas of expertise.   

“It can be tempting to retreat into the comfort of our own disciplines, because we get the feeling that we can move faster and make more impact,” Glen concluded. “However, I would urge anyone to challenge that impulse so you can hear the expertise and needs of others. I believe that is how we make real, massive, and lasting impacts.”