The Harvard Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability Announces Major Grant Inspired by HouseZero®

Interdisciplinary research will focus on advancing building sustainability

The Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability at Harvard University recently announced a new, major multi-year grant for “Sustainable Building and Urban Future,” one of two climate research clusters as part of an interdisciplinary initiative targeting urgent climate challenges in the built environment.

“Sustainable Building and Urban Future” is one of two newly-announced clusters designed to address sources of planet-warming emissions and foster novel collaborations across Harvard’s Schools and academic disciplines. Along with the “Urban Mobility and Climate Change” cluster, the new research efforts will collectively receive $3.6 million over three years and involve more than a dozen faculty from the Graduate School of Design, John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard Kennedy School, and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

The “Sustainable Building and Urban Future” cluster, which will be housed in the HouseZero®, is led by Ali Malkawi, serving as principal investigator; he is the Founding Director of the Center for Green Buildings and Cities and Professor of Architectural Technology at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. The cluster team draws on expertise in chemistry, materials science, fluid mechanics, AI, computer science, architecture, and engineering, with the goal of developing innovative low-carbon materials integrated with smart sensors and advanced algorithms to transform the energy-efficient operation of buildings and urban environments. The team consists of faculty co-investigators Joanna Aizenberg, Petros Koumoutsakos, Na (Lina) Li, Jarad Mason, Vijay Janapa Reddi, and Le Xie.

“This project, driven by interdisciplinary collaboration, addresses urgent climate challenges by developing and scaling sustainable design solutions,” said Malkawi. “We aim to modernize and eventually revolutionize energy-efficient building performance to help shape the future of sustainable urban environments.”

Read the Salata Institute announcement here.
Read the Harvard Crimson article here.