Background Image

Research Grants

  • All news
  • Environmental Education
  • ESI in the News
  • Events and Programs
  • Journalism Fellowships
  • Letters from the Director
  • MIT News
  • MITASC Stories
  • Research Grants
News Image
August 9, 2021

What will happen to sediment plumes associated wit...

Prof. Tom Peacock, who received an ESI seed grant to model the effects of deep-sea mining on ocean ecosystems, has now assembled an international team for the first real-world experiment.

News Image
June 5, 2020

Peatland drainage in Southeast Asia adds to climat...

ESI Seed Grant recipient Charles Harvey is part of a team that used novel satellite data to reveal the true extent of peatland loss in Malaysia and Indonesia, with robust estimates of just how much CO2 is entering the atmosphere as a result.

News Image
December 16, 2019

The uncertain role of natural gas in the transitio...

ESI seed grant recipient Jessika Trancik digs into the difficult-to-quantify role of methane as a greenhouse gas.

News Image
December 6, 2019

Making buildings from industrial waste

ESI seed grant recipient Elsa Olivetti combs through the waste products of heavy industry to find novel building materials.

News Image
December 5, 2019

Understanding the impact of deep-sea mining

Mining materials from the sea floor could help secure a low-carbon future, but before this becomes a big business, ESI seed grant recipient Tom Peacock is racing to understand the environmental effects.

News Image
November 25, 2019

Student Spotlight: Peter Godart

2019 Martin Fellow Peter Godart is developing a system that would use aluminum debris to desalinate water while also generating energy in the wake of natural disasters.

News Image
October 31, 2019

New synthesis method yields degradable polymers

New polymer chemistry from the lab of Jeremiah Johnson, partly funded through ESI’s Plastics and the Environment Program, could be an alternative to some industrial plastics.

News Image
February 13, 2019

Machine learning and climate modeling

As machine learning expands into climate modeling, EAPS Associate Professor Paul O’Gorman answers what that looks like and why it’s important now.

News Image
April 11, 2018

Achieving water affordability in America’s shrin...

Lawrence Susskind and Gabriella Carolini’s ESI Seed Grant funds research into water affordability in American cities.

News Image
April 11, 2018

Metals, minerals and the race to 2050

Governments around the world are preparing to implement their 2050 emissions reduction commitments under the Paris Agreement

News Image
August 17, 2017

For food-waste recycling, policy is key

ESI seed grant recipients Lily Baum Pollans and Eran Ben-Joseph published a study on food scrap recycling programs in the U.S.

News Image
August 14, 2017

Envisioning the future of metal and mineral produc...

MIT researchers team up with leaders from the metals and minerals industry to envision a more sustainable future.

News Image
August 1, 2017

The effects of huge, undersea waves run deep

ESI seed grant recipient Pierre Lermusiaux is studying the effects of deep sea waves on oceanic infrastructure.

News Image
June 12, 2017

Peatlands, already dwindling, could face further l...

ESI seed grant recipient Charles Harvey has been studying one of the world’s last undisturbed tropical peat forests on the island of Borneo.