Ortiz is an internationally recognized researcher in biotechnology and biomaterials, advanced and additive manufacturing, and sustainable and socially-directed materials design.
VEIR, founded by TPP alum Tim Heidel '05, MNG '06, SM '09, PD '10, PhD '10, has developed a transmission line that can move more power over long distances using the same footprint as traditional lines.
Ben Lewis SM ’24 received the Collier Medal for his service and impact in local communities, particularly his advocacy of prevention centers and other often stigmatized harm reduction tactics.
IDSS and TPP celebrated the 2024 graduates during the School of Engineering and Schwarzman College of Computing Advanced Degree Ceremony on Wednesday, May 29, 2024. TPP awarded 37 Master of Science degrees.
2024 Economic Report of the President | May 10, 2024
Maja Svanberg’s thesis was cited by the White House Council of Economic Advisors. Svanberg will pursue a PhD in at Chalmers University of Technology, exploring "mission-driven innovation policy" in the context of climate change.
TPP student Pragya Neupane, whose research uses Natural Language Processing to analyze healthcare literature, advises a group for Nepali Women+ in Computing at the world’s largest minorities-in-tech conference.
In an interview with Slice of MIT, Sudhakar Kesavan SM ’84 credits TPP for helping him bridge the gaps between engineers and policymakers and giving him the tools to use his engineering degree for the greatest good.
TPP student Graham Turk’s research shows how electricity rate design is not a zero-sum game. Smart electricity rates can reduce the need for costly grid upgrades while encouraging electrification and protecting households that can't yet afford a heat pump or electric car.
A new map shows which U.S. counties have the highest concentration of jobs that could be affected by the transition to renewable energy. The work was developed by TPP alum Kailin Graham and Chris Knittel.
Through research combining drug policy, race, and criminal justice – and through advocacy and community action – TPP student Ben Lewis champions harm reduction.
TPP student Chelsea Conard models threats to cyber systems where data privacy and sensitivity are high, seeking comprehensive insights and benchmarks through close collaboration with the Federal Reserve and industry partners.
New paper co-authored by TPP graduate student Michael Giovanniello shows how policymakers could encourage the nascent clean hydrogen industry without indirectly increasing its carbon emissions.
Hundreds of participants from around the world joined the sixth annual MIT Policy Hackathon to develop data-informed policy solutions to challenges in health, housing, and more.
“Climate change mitigation and resilience is such a complex problem, and at MIT we have practice in working together across disciplines on many challenges,” says Professor Elsa Olivetti one of many TPP research supervisors.
TPP alum Thomas González Roberts won for creating human- and machine-readable datasets that succinctly describe the international agreements that govern satellite operations. Current TPP student Kailin Graham earned honorable mention for his work with Professor Christopher Knittel on U.S. employment carbon footprints.
TPP student Johnattan Ontiveros is working with Professor Siqi Zheng, one of the six faculty members awarded funding from the Fast Forward Faculty Fund, on the Climate Crisis and Real Estate: Science-based Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies project.
Michael Giovanniello, Johnattan Ontiveros, and Graham Turk took first place at the Avangrid Clean Energy Hackathon, where they examined the problem of school bus electrification from the perspectives of both the school district and the utility.
Six TPP students, including Mike Giovanniello and Kailin Graham (pictured), are enrolled in the MIT Renewable Energy Clinic which is designed to train students in negotiation and mediation for siting and development of clean energy projects.
TPP alum Thomas González Roberts won for creating human- and machine-readable datasets that succinctly describe the international agreements that govern satellite operations. Current TPP student Kailin Graham earned honorable mention for his work with Professor Christopher Knittel on U.S. employment carbon footprints.
TPP student Dansil Green contributed to this article in the August issue of MIT Science Policy Review which describes the potential dangers to satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) beyond commonly referenced orbital debris and satellite collisions.
The Manhattan Project mobilized the U.S. government to provide the funding, resources, and political backing needed to solve a complex problem in a short amount of time. TPPers Nirmal Bhatt and Peter Heller assess whether the Manhattan Project framework should be deployed to tackle the challenge of climate change.
MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change | September 19, 2023
A new study by IDSS Interim Director Noelle Selin, TPP alum Paul Picciano, and SES alum Minghao Qiu finds that climate policy alone cannot meaningfully reduce racial/economic disparities in air pollution exposure.
Through a combination of optimization and regulatory policy analysis, TPP student Graham Turk’s research focuses on how smarter electricity rates can speed up decarbonization.
Recent TPP alum Alexa Canaan SM ’23 fused economics, data science, energy science, and energy policy into research that developed strategies for decreasing consumption and connecting more renewables to the grid.
These five women, including TPP alums Dava Newman SM '89, PhD '92 and Danielle Wood '04, SM '08, PhD '12, at the MIT Media Lab are advancing aerospace science and research, driven by a love of our home planet.
Thomas G. Roberts TPP '21, a graduate research fellow at the MIT Astrodynamics, Space Robotics and Controls Laboratory and an adjunct fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Aerospace Security Project, calls attention to the increasing frequency of space debris plummeting to earth in this Washington Post opinion piece.
TPP alum Jordan Kearns SM ’17 and David Bierman SM ’14, PhD ’17 are commercializing a thermal battery that lets manufacturers use renewable energy around the clock.
TPP student Mrigi Munjal’s research into sodium-ion batteries was complemented by an internship with a company aiming to accelerate the deployment of sustainable energy storage solutions in southern Africa.
Center for Cybersecurity Policy and Law | July 6, 2023
In this article, TPP student Chelsea Conard explains why the French Digital Bill and Military Planning Law (LPM) that give authorities the necessary tools to combat looming cyber threats may set a dangerous precedent that dismantles online freedom.
At the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) Energy Storage Student Slam in March 2023, the third-place award went to Mrigi Munjal, a graduate student in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Technology and Policy Program, for her research on unlocking industrial-scale sodium-ion batteries.
Three TPP students—Serena Patel, Rameen Hayat Malik, and Ethan Harrison—discuss the impact of the Tata Fellowship on their research, perspectives, and time at MIT.
Forbes 30-under-30 honoree Olamide Oladeji SM ’18, AF ’20 is a TPP alum, PhD candidate, MicroMasters learner, data scientist, and entrepreneur looking to answer climate change questions with help from advances in artificial intelligence.
As Canada’s wildfires continue to be felt downwind, TPP Director Noelle Selin weighs in on what to expect in the coming months, with wildfire season underway.
While researching a just transition away from fossil fuels, Yiran He’s internship with an energy non-profit provided a window to how organizations can impact the development of energy policies.
This summer, TPP student Deepika Raman will travel to Kenya as part of a new fellowship to explore how governance innovations are making governments more transparent and accountable to citizens in regions of the world that are underrepresented in global innovation and design research.
IDSS and TPP celebrated the 2023 graduates during the School of Engineering and Schwarzman College of Computing Advanced Degree Ceremony on Wednesday, May 31, 2023. TPP awarded 25 Master of Science degrees.
TPP student Alexa Reese Canaan is featured in this article describing her research on household energy consumption to Massachusetts State Senator Michael J. Barrett, chair of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy.
Mahmoud Ramadan TPP ’23, a member of MIT’s Science Policy Initiative Executive Board, organized a trip to Capitol Hill to advocate for continued and increased federal support for scientific research. The delegation included TPP students Nirmal Bhatt, Amy Huynh, and Graham Turk.
Philipp Zimmer TPP '23 connects the dots between his humanitarian work in Uganda and his research into social media’s varying impacts on different societies and regimes.
If reactors are retired, polluting energy sources that fill the gap could cause more than 5,000 premature deaths, researchers including TPP Director Noelle Selin and TPP alum Guillaume Chossière SM ’17, PD ’20, PhD ’21 estimate.
Assistant Professor and TPP alum Danielle Wood discusses the future of space sustainability. “I hope that humans pause and note that the actions we’re taking now and in the next 10 years really are going to be decisive in the relationship between humans and our planet, and humans and other locations, like the moon,” says Wood.
Manon Revel TPP ’19, who works at the intersection of computational social choice and political theory, hopes to uncover ways to improve governance in AI systems, democracies, and corporate environments.
Vivienne Zhang’s research on data quality when predicting wind power output, plus an internship in machine learning operations, leads her to join Nvidia’s Deep Learning team.
Research by first-year undergraduate Maanas Sharma ’26 on Covid in prisons began at the MIT Policy Hackathon, which he first attended as a junior in high school.
Recent TPP graduate Kevin Paeth SM ’23, who researches human computer interaction, says his internship in AI policy reinforced a core TPP lesson: “the overwhelming importance of successful communication between technical and non-technical audiences.”
A team including TPP director Noelle Selin has developed a new modeling approach that could enable decision-makers to reduce hazardous emissions and improve public health through combined climate and air-quality policies.
TPP student Sukhi Gulati, who studies internet policy and policy compliant software, interned during the summer of 2022 as a technologist with the Center for Democracy & Technology.
Over 500 people gathered to explore and discuss the latest research and entrepreneurship in the climate and energy space at MIT Energy Night. Nicole Shi TPP ’23, Peter Heller TPP ’24, Michael Giovanniello TPP ’24 were part of the organizing team.
MIT study co-authored by TPP Director Noelle Selin and SES alum Minghao Qiu (PhD ’21) finds increased usage of wind power improves air quality in U.S., however only a third of the health benefits are being seen in disadvantaged communities.
A new MIT study by TPP Director Noelle Selin, SES alum Minghao Qiu PhD ’21, and Corwin Zigler finds that the health benefits associated with wind power could more than quadruple if operators prioritized turning down output from the most polluting fossil-fuel-based power plants when energy from wind is available.
Delegates from MIT including current TPP students Serena Patel and Youssef Shaker attended COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, where international climate negotiations went down to the wire.
TPP alum Danielle Wood, director of the Space Enabled research group at the Media Lab, discusses space technology and sustainability at the “Bloomberg New Economy Forum.”
The 2022 MIT Policy Hackathon explored policy solutions to sociotechnical challenges focused on post-pandemic efforts to build a better society, with challenges in cybersecurity, environmental justice, and city planning.
Mark Dwortzan | MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change | October 21, 2022
New tool pinpoints policy combinations that maximize health benefits. “This tool can help integrate the siloed sustainability issues of air pollution and climate action,” says the study’s lead author William Atkinson TPP '22.
Rui-Jie Yew TPP '23 researches at the intersection of computation, law, and ethics, exploring regulatory incentives for addressing harm caused by emerging algorithmic technologies.
Allie Shepard ’19, TPP ’23 interned in the New York City Mayor’s Office, where she got a firsthand view of the opportunities for climate change mitigation policy at the city level.
Farri Gaba TPP ’22 hopes to leverage his experience researching last-mile drone delivery to help solve sociotechnical challenges in sustainable transportation and logistics.
Systems engineer, Space Force Lieutenant, and recent TPP alum Jonathan Novak wants to make sure that satellites are designed to be resilient against solar weather.
IDSS and TPP celebrated the 2022 graduates in-person during the inaugural School of Engineering and Schwarzman College of Computing Advanced Degree Ceremony on Thursday, May 26, 2022. TPP awarded 32 Master of Science degrees.
TPP alum Matt Orosz MNG '03, SM '06, PhD '12, PD '13 founded OnePower a company that builds networks of minigrids powered by solar energy to bring electricity to rural regions of Lesotho.
The authors of the report estimated that the costs of transforming power grids in the Northeast, Southeast, and Texas will range between 21 percent and 36 percent higher than if nothing was done to promote storage-backed renewable energy. TPP alumni Drake Hernandez '21 and Cathy Wang '21 contributed to the The Future of Energy Storage: An Interdisciplinary MIT Study.
David L. Chandler | MIT News Office | May 13, 2022
TPP Director Noelle Selin hopes that initial progress will highlight the worldwide effort to address the climate challenge. TPP student Joy Jackson is optimistic that there are many avenues for research to make its way into policy.
Using a unique modeling strategy, MIT Joint Program researchers including Dr. Jennifer Morris TPP '09 find several possible patterns of energy and technology development under a specified long-term climate target or economic outcome.
Mark Dwortzan | MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change | April 26, 2022
Activating a Clean Air Act provision could deliver major climate, health and economic benefits, says new study co-authored by TPP director Noelle Selin and TPP student Paul Picciano.
Paige Colley | MIT School of Science | April 14, 2022
To put global climate modeling at the fingertips of local decision-makers, some scientists, including TPP Director Noelle Selin, think it’s time to rethink the system from scratch.
TPP Director Noelle Selin co-leads a project that leverages advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science to improve the accuracy and utility of climate models.
TPP student Nicolas Guetta-Jeanrenaud is part of a team of researchers led by TPP Faculty Advisor Siqi Zheng who are measuring how the pandemic affects public sentiment.
First-year TPP student and Environmental Solutions Initiative (ESI) research assistant, Yiran He, plugs into projects like Here & Real which engages with U.S. regions facing particular economic risks in the transition to a low-carbon economy.
Teams proposed policy solutions to challenges in health care and COVID-19, internet policy and cybersecurity, housing and city planning, transportation, and environmental justice.
TPP Director Noelle Eckley Selin is one of the principals in a new collaboration with Biogen to accelerate the science and action on climate change to improve human health.
Sometimes flowers can be the villain. Water hyacinths, with their seemingly harmless violet petals and lush green leaves, have invaded tropical parts of Central Africa, including Benin. TPP alum Danielle Wood uses space technology as part of the solution.
MIT Policy Hackathon is a 48-hour hackathon convened by students from MIT’s Institute for Data, Systems, and Society and the MIT Technology and Policy Program that aims to address some of today’s most relevant societal challenges while fostering an interdisciplinary spirit.
Karan Bhuwalka, recent TPP alumnus, reflects on TPP’s interdisciplinary approach and bringing data science, manufacturing, and social issues together in his research on the materials that make up electric vehicles.
As he sets off on retirement, longtime TPP staff member Ed Ballo reflects on the journey that brought him to TPP – and on where his journey goes from here.
Space suits that fit women are just a first step to a more inclusive space sector. TPP alum Emily Calandrelli is optimistic that with inclusion will come bold new ideas.
Graduating TPP student Becca Browder is taking her research on commercial spaceports to a new job at SpaceX – and has worked for years to get an MIT experiment on the moon.
Thandolwethu Dlamini, a TPP graduate student, founded The Knowledge Institute, which earned a $20,000 grant at the 20th annual MIT IDEAS Social Innovation Awards.
“The proposed new Sustainability Policy Hub, coordinated by TPP, will help MIT students and researchers engage with decision makers on topics that directly affect people and their well-being today and in the future,” says Noelle Selin, director of TPP.
Emily Calandrelli, SM ’13 and TPP alumna, is the aerospace engineer behind Emily’s Wonder Lab, a new TV show designed to get all kinds of kids excited about science.
Jennifer Morris, TPP alumnus and current research scientist at the MIT Joint Program and MIT Energy Initiative, is the co-author on a study of how bioenergy with carbon capture and storage could help stabilize the climate without breaking the bank.
Professor and TPP alumnus Danielle Wood and a team of collaborators from NASA, East Carolina University, Ghana Statistical Service and the Ghana Space Science and Technology Institute published a new study on the scope of vegetation loss in Ghana due to mining.
A paper from TPP alumni researchers Nestor Sepulveda, Jesse Jenkins and Aurora Edington evaluates the role and value of long-duration energy storage technologies in securing a carbon-free electric grid.
The Space Enabled research group will be featured on the educational television show called "Xploration Outer Space" hosted by TPP Alum Emily Calandrelli.
In the new book "Mercury Stories," TPP Director Noelle Eckley Selin and Henrik Selin examine sustainability through analyzing human interactions with mercury over thousands of years.
Team brings diverse backgrounds and expertise, including students from the Technology and Policy program and alumni Karen Tapia-Ahumada, to address challenges for the clean energy transition.
IDSS is delighted to share that three core faculty members have been promoted to the rank of full professor, effective July 1, 2021, including Noelle Selin, the Director of TPP and Jessika Trancik, a member of the Faculty Advisory Network.
IDSS Fellow Kate Turner, TPP alum Danielle Wood, and Catherine D'Ignazio (MIT DUSP) have written a new playbook addressing the racial and gendered oppression that Black women face in the AI ethics field.
“My technical skills alone were not enough in the development of solutions to complex problems such as lack of electricity,” says Thandolwethu Zwelakhe “Shakes” Dlamini of his journey to TPP. “A broader understanding of policy, economic, and regulatory frameworks is essential.”
A TPP alum and former TPP director, visionary astronautics researcher, explorer, and expert on human adaptation to space, Dava Newman will help write the next chapter of the Institute’s world-renowned research center.
The fourth MIT Policy Hackathon, hosted virtually and focusing on equity, brought together policy and data science expertise to deliver solutions to challenges from environmental justice to Covid-19.
TPP director Noelle Selin explores mercury's toxic history and informs policy-makers "how they can better manage mercury and evaluate how effective their strategies are."
TPP student Sade Nabahe is applying insights from her internship as an energy workforce policy fellow in the U.S. Senate to developing region-specific decarbonization plans with labor stakeholders.
The biotech company joins TPP and IDSS as a new partner, and will support a Biogen Fellow to inform climate policy that improves public health outcomes.
TPP students and alumni contribute working papers to the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research's 'Roosevelt Project,' which aims to chart a path to decarbonization that minimizes impact on labor and the economy.
Media Lab researcher Kate Turner explores how critical race theory can influence science — and how science can inform policy — as an IDSS Research to Policy Engagement Initiative Fellow.
Ivan Rudnick’s research, which earned him TPP’s Best Thesis Award for 2020, offers insights into designing energy policies that could help India achieve its decarbonization goals.
A new study from TPP/IDSS alumni Nestor Sepulveda and Jesse Jenkins finds that the economic value of battery storage increases as variable renewable sources supply more electricity.
"The focus on systems thinking that was being employed in TPP and at the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) has been very important in shaping my thinking around the biggest challenges in climate and energy." MITei profiles Addison Stark (TPP '10).
Isolat, a volunteer collaboration organized by IDSS, informs coronavirus policy at MIT and beyond by combining rigorous data analysis with expertise in using science to impact policy making.
Systems engineer Sarah Rovito (TPP '16) is a Congressional Science & Technology Policy Fellow who was working on issues like AI and 5G when the pandemic hit — now it's all-hands-on-deck to address the coronavirus.
Michael Davidson, Jesse Jenkins, and Valerie Karplus — TPP and IDSS alumni — explore how technology and policy can help save the planet from climate change.
MIT researchers including Pankhuri Sen, a TPP alum and research assistant in MIT’s AutoID Laboratory, have developed a “smart” diaper embedded with a moisture sensor that can alert a caregiver when a diaper is wet.
MIT researchers including TPP alum Michael Specter have uncovered security vulnerabilities in a mobile voting application that was used during the 2018 midterm elections in West Virginia.
Each year, TPP nominates one MIT undergrad to be a presidential fellow at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress. This year’s nominee is Anoushka Bose, a double major in political science and physics focusing on nuclear policy and security.
TPP alum Charlene Ren wrote the business proposal for MyH2O during her first semester at MIT. Now the NGO works to connect rural Chinese villages with clean drinking water.
New research from TPP alum Kathleen Mulvaney and TPP director Noelle Selin shows how climate and air pollution policies can work together to maximize the reduction of mercury emissions.
TPP alum Nestor Sepulveda uses 'a unique computational framework blending optimization and data science, operations research, and policy methodologies' to describe potential pathways to combat climate change.
TPP students and alumni joined faculty, students, and research staff from MIT and beyond to discuss the urgency of the climate crisis, collaborating on decarbonization, and the role of policy in combatting global temperature rise.
New research from TPP alum and MIT Sloan professor Valerie Karplus evaluates the impact of new air pollution standards on sulfur dioxide emissions by coal-burning power plants in China.
Ian Schneider's successful defense of his dissertation 'Market Design Opportunities for an Evolving Power System' marks the first defense for the Social & Engineering Systems doctoral program.
The new initiative supports efforts to inform policy with scientific research and will build community among researchers, policymakers, and stakeholders.
TPP director Noelle Eckley Selin and Emil Dimanchev (TPP ’18) used linked economic and air pollution models to show how the cost of renewable energy policies that reduce air pollution can be more than offset by health care savings.
Research from IDSS alum David Broniatowski (TPP '06, ES '10) shows that 54 percent of the anti-vaccine ads on Facebook were funded by a group headed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and a California-based organization.
Karplus (TPP '08, ES '11), an assistant professor at MIT Sloan and "expert on China’s energy system," was recognized by the the U.S. Department of Energy for her leadership and achievements in clean energy education.
Erik Landry (TPP '18), now a research associate at MIT, is lead author on a report that makes recommendations which could help companies deliver more useful disclosures to investors on the risks they face due to climate change.
Josephine Wolff (TPP ’12) is the Assistant Professor of Cybersecurity Policy at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. She researches cybersecurity policy and cyber-insurance, and is the author of “You'll see this message when it is too late: The Legal and Economic Aftermath of Cybersecurity Breaches."
The International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) elected Danielle Wood (TPP '08) as a Corresponding Member for Engineering Sciences. Wood holds a joint appointment at MIT with the Program in Media Arts & Sciences and the Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics.
TPP alum Cecilia Testart, now a grad student at MIT CSAIL, is part of a team that's building a model to identify “serial hijackers” of internet IP addresses.
An MIT climate change symposium panel chaired by TPP director and IDSS/EAPS professor Noelle Selin described the state of knowledge in climate science and stressed the urgent need for action.
Research from TPP alum Emil Dimanchev and TPP director Noelle Selin finds health savings from cleaner air would more than pay for the cost of implementing renewable energy policies.
New research from IDSS/EAPS professor and TPP director Noelle Selin shows that China's pledge to peak carbon dioxide emissions in 2030 could result in fewer premature deaths in the U.S.
A research team that includes TPP and IDSS alum Sarah Fletcher and TPP alum Megan Lickley has developed a flexible planning framework that evaluates approaches that add water storage capacity incrementally if the climate becomes warmer and drier.
A dual TPP/AeroAstro student, Julia's research focuses on developing sensors and metrics for remote telehealth systems -- helpful in remote regions, essential for astronauts in space.
A new study by TPP director Noelle Selin finds that the longer countries wait to reduce mercury emissions, the less effective any emissions-reducing policies will be when they are eventually implemented.
Citizens and data scientists produce actionable recommendations for high-priority Boston-area issues at an IDSS student-run event during Boston's annual ideas festival.
Current TPP student, Amy Umaretiya, joined other student researchers in Washington to lend their voices and ideas for exploring nuclear energy’s potential to address climate change.
Noelle Selin, Associate Professor, IDSS and EAPS; and Associate Director, Technology and Policy Program, has been awarded a Hans Fischer Senior Fellowship at the Technical University of Munich Institute for […]
Michael Davidson (TPP ’14 and engineering systems PhD candidate) received a best poster award in the social sciences category. The poster highlights hidden costs in China’s coal plant upgrade.
TPP student Guillaume Chossière co-authored a paper that examines the health impact of 2.6 million cars installed with "defeat devices," sold in Germany under Volkswagen Group’s brands VW, Audi, Skoda, and Seat.
Graduate students Arun Singh and Michael Davidson came to Marrakech to advance their international climate research and keep abreast of real-time developments in climate policy.
Steve Connors, a friend and graduate of the Technology and Policy Program (’89) as well as an accomplished researcher in alternative energy here at MIT in the Energy Initiative, died […]
Research from doi:10.1002/sres.2210 into the dynamics of the academic job market is profiled in the New York Times. The paper, “Too Many PhD Graduates or Too Few Academic Job Openings: […]
Poets & Quants, a C-Change Media blog devoted to covering graduate business education, recently posted its 2016 profiles of the “Best 40 Under 40 MBA Professors,” and TPP alum (and […]
TPP alumna Renata Pomponi (TPP ’95) was profiled in the September 13, 2015 Boston Globe Magazine; “Renata Pomponi went from the boardroom to Drumlin Farm.” A more detailed discussion of her […]
ESD.103 instructor Kenneth Oye, with Chap Lawson and Tania Bubela, challenge the synthetic biology community to devise flexible responses to the evolving capabilities of the field to produce problematic compounds […]
