Faculty & Research

The Salata Institute Seed Grant Program, supported by a gift from the Troper Wojcicki Foundation, is funding a second round of early-stage research by Harvard faculty on emerging topics in climate and sustainability, including a biologically inspired "skin" for windows that reduces building energy use, a carbon capture system powered by sunlight alone, and an analysis of the health effects of "peaker" power plants that operate when electricity demands are high.

Developed by Harvard researchers in partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund and others, the MethaneSAT satellite will monitor methane emissions from oil and gas fields worldwide and make the information publicly available in near real-time.

Naomi Oreskes, Henry Charles Lea Professor of the History of Science and affiliated professor of earth and planetary sciences at Harvard, was selected for her work to expose corporate efforts to undermine the scientific consensus about human-caused climate change.

Harvard’s delegation to the COP28 climate change talks in Dubai included more than a dozen faculty representing six Harvard Schools and the wide range of disciplines required to tackle the climate crisis, from public health to economics.

A Salata Institute seed grant recipient, Joe Blatt AB ’70, EdM ’77 is leading a cross-Harvard team to develop more effective messaging to help break the gridlock of climate change denial.

In the new role, Beerbohm will launch a series of initiatives designed to advance constructive dialogue in classrooms and seminar halls across the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

From developing sustainable fertilizers and improving plant-based meats to using microbes to break down plastic packaging, researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard are creating technologies to decarbonize food production while providing enough food for our global needs.

In a Wall Street Journal video, Emily Broad Leib JD '08, founder and director of the Food Law and Policy Clinic at Harvard Law School, explains why creating policies that make it easier to donate food could transform the U.S. food system and slow climate change.

Elaine Buckberg, a new senior fellow at the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability, will lead a team of researchers from Harvard and MIT through the new Driving Toward Seamless Public EV Charging initiative.

The Salata Institute Seed Grant Program has announced its first cohort of awards, which will support 19 faculty members working across seven Harvard Schools with funding for projects ranging from exploring a new, algae-based building insulation material to researching the carbon footprint of AI-driven computing.