MIT Technology and Policy Program

A champion for LGBTQ rights, Brinton got dual masters in nuclear engineering and TPP so they could “save the world from nuclear waste.” 

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.

This year’s Margaret MacVicar Faculty Fellows include TPP research advisor and Faculty Advisory Network member Elsa Olivetti.

The Space Enabled research group will be featured on the educational television show called “Xploration Outer Space” hosted by TPP Alum Emily Calandrelli.

Saha Global, co-founded by TPP Alumna Kate Cincotta, helps Ghanaian women start profitable water treatment businesses to serve their communities.

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.

TPP alum Julia Moline’s award-winning research encourages the adoption of data‐driven decision‐making in disaster response.

TPP alum Sami Khan’s new design could speed reaction rates in electrochemical systems for pulling carbon out of power plant emissions.

“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.”

TPP student and former US Army medical officer Molly McGuigan models PPE need for healthcare facilities from hospitals to dentist offices.

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.

TPP alum Manon Revel, now a student in LIDS and SES, has been investigating how advertising in online publications affects trust in journalism.

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.

TPP alum Emily Calandrelli’s Netflix show gets kids interested in everything from tornados to static electricity.

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.

IDSS and TPP celebrated 2020 graduates virtually with remarks from faculty, students, and staff. TPP awarded 17 Master of Science degrees.

MIT professor and TPP alum Danielle Wood is changing aerospace research to address racial inequity in space exploration.

“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.

Many people are having to work and learn from home. Residential broadband networks might not be able to keep up, says TPP alum Josephine Wolff.

Gabe Bann’s passions for data science and social justice led him to TPP, where he studies inequality in disaster vulnerability.

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.

TPP, along with the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS), is officially a part of the new Schwarzman College of Computing.

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.

The departures leave critical infrastructure, elections, data, and networks vulnerable, argues TPP alum and Tufts professor Josephine Wolff.

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.

Maryam Shahid’s undergraduate computer science thesis on online ads led her to cybersecurity policy and TPP.

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.