Climate & Sustainability

Many of the grand climate and sustainability challenges are deeply materials dependent. Our faculty are inventing new methods of water purification, electrifying and decarbonizing cement and steel production, low-power computing, grid-scale energy storage, and more.

Researchers

Antoine Allanore

Professor of Metallurgy

13-5066
allanore@mit.edu

Professor Allanore is developing processes for sustainable materials extraction and manufacturing, revisiting and inventing new methods of producing metals, fertilizers, and more.

Yet-Ming Chiang

Kyocera Professor; National Academy of Engineering

Room 13-4086
(617) 253-6471
ychiang@mit.edu

Professor Chiang is focused on reducing global greenhouse gases in as many sectors as possible. Projects include batteries used in cars and aviation, ultra-low-cost energy storage for grid applications, municipal waste ash mining for valuable chemicals, electrifying production of Portland cement production, and more.

Jeffrey C. Grossman

Head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering; Morton and Claire Goulder and Family Professor in Environmental Systems; Professor of Materials Science and Engineering; MacVicar Fellow

Room 6-113
(617) 324-3566
jcg@mit.edu

Professor Grossman is designing nanomaterials for applications that range from clean energy to water filtration and energy-efficient separations, with a goal of making an impact in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Dorothy Hosler

Professor Emerita of Archaeology and Ancient Technology

8-204
hosler@mit.edu

Professor Hosler studies the extraction and use, specifically alloy property relations, of copper-based objects in ancient Mesoamerica and Northern South America.

Heather Nan Lechtman

Professor Emerita of Archaeology and Ancient Technology; Director, Center for Materials Research in Archaeology and Ethnology (CMRAE)

8-437
lechtman@mit.edu

Professor Lechtman studies prehistoric systems of technology developed by Andean peoples, specializing in prehistoric Andean metallurgy.

Elsa A. Olivetti

Esther and Harold E. Edgerton Professor

8-403
elsao@mit.edu

Professor Olivetti examines materials, process, and system design towards improved environmental impacts from extraction to end-of-life using analytical, experimental, and data-driven methods.

Donald R. Sadoway

John F. Elliott Professor Emeritus of Materials Chemistry

8-203
dsadoway@mit.edu

Professor Sadoway's research is focused on extreme electrochemistry for grid-level storage (liquid metal battery), decarbonization of steelmaking (molten oxide electrolysis), safe, scalable energy storage for electric vehicles (aluminum-sulfur battery), and eradication of point-source CO₂ emissions post production (molten salt electrolysis).

Yang Shao-Horn

JR East Professor of Engineering

3-334
shaohorn@mit.edu

Professor Shao-Horn's work is focused on energy storage, using electrocatalysis to improve energy density in Li–ion batteries and exploring future technologies for effective grid and transportation storage.

C. Cem Tasan

Thomas B. King Associate Professor of Metallurgy

8-202
tasan@mit.edu

Professor Tasan studies the microstructural mechanisms of metal deformation and failure using in-situ microscopy techniques, in order to design new alloys with superior property combinations.

Climate & Sustainability

Researchers

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