The MIT School of Science is launching a center to advance computing knowledge and capabilities in the field of applied science, and to support decision makers in government, industry and society to achieve the goals of sustainable development. In line with the Climate Project at MIT, researchers at the MIT Center for Policy and Policy Science will develop and apply expertise from the Center to improve understanding of policy issues, and thereby provide with practical knowledge and insight to inform policies to improve people’s health. for present and future generations.
Noelle Selin, a professor in MIT’s Center for Data, Systems and Society and the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, will serve as the department’s primary director. C. Adam Schlosser and Sergey Paltsev, senior research scientists at MIT, will serve as deputy directors, and Anne Slinn as executive director.
Incorporating and succeeding both the Center for Global Change Science and the Joint Program for Global Change Science and Policy while adding new capabilities, the center aims to produce leading-edge research to help guide global change. society to a sustainable future. Based on MIT’s long history of efforts to address global change and its collective environmental and human dimensions, the institute is well-positioned to lead the field’s global efforts to advance the field. of sustainable science, which seeks to understand socio-ecological systems in detail. complexity. This understanding is designed to be useful and practical for decision makers in government, industry and civil society in their efforts to create effective ways to improve the quality of life for the many people involved.
“As critical challenges such as climate, health, energy and food security increasingly affect people’s lives around the world, decision-makers need a better understanding of the world in its complexities totality—and that includes people, technology and organizations as well as ecosystems,” says Selin. “A better understanding of these systems and how they interact can lead to more effective strategies that avoid unintended consequences and ensure better lives for all.”
Advanced knowledge, computer skills, and decision support
To generate accurate and comprehensive knowledge of operational problems and guide decision makers to make more effective policies, the institute has set itself the following goals:
- An advanced basic understanding of the complex interconnected physical and socioeconomic systems that affect human health. As new policies and technologies are developed in the midst of climate and other global changes, they interact with ecosystems and institutions in ways that can transform critical systems that support life on Earth. The fundamental mechanisms that govern many of these systems, including those related to interacting climate, water, food, and socioeconomic systems, remain unknown and poorly defined. A better understanding can help society reduce the risks of sudden changes and “critical points” in these processes.
- Design, develop and publish new computer applications to better understand the world’s systems, including environmental and human dimensions. The center’s work will integrate modeling and data analysis throughout the study during an increase in the number of test points. MIT’s wide range of systems and data products will provide powerful information to inform decision-making and create the next generation of technology and operational strategy.
- Develop practical science that supports equity and justice within and across generations. The agency’s research will be designed to inform action related to measurable outcomes consistent with supporting human health across generations. This requires engagement with a wide range of stakeholders, including not only communities and companies, but also non-governmental organizations and communities that act to promote sustainable development – with a focus on especially for those who have long borne the brunt of environmental injustice.
Selin says: “The work of the center will improve fundamental understanding in the sciences of operations, promote computing and data, and encourage engagement and influence. “Our researchers will help scientists and policymakers around the world. who broadly share MIT’s commitment to mobilizing knowledge to provide action toward a sustainable world.”
Building a better world at MIT
Building on MIT’s existing capabilities in practice, science and policy, the institute aims to:
- focuses on research, education, and reporting under a theme that reflects the department’s comprehensive position and international research direction, fostering a strong community of students, researchers, and faculty;
- raise the profile of sustainable science at MIT, emphasizing connections between science and action, in the context of the Institute’s existing mission and other efforts on climate and sustainability, and in a way that demonstrates significant contributions of a range of natural and social sciences to understand human environmental systems; and
- Re-emphasize MIT’s long-standing expertise in integrated systems modeling while leveraging the Institute’s core strengths in data and computing, creating leadership in cutting-edge innovation, including in machine learning and artificial intelligence, to solve the scientific problems of global change. and stability.
“The Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy will provide the necessary collaboration for our MIT researchers to develop, implement, and scale up serious solutions to climate change and other critical global challenges. process,” says Nergis Mavalvala of the Curtis and Kathleen Marble Professor of Astrophysics and dean. of the MIT School of Science. “With Professor Selin at its helm, the center will once again ensure that these solutions are developed in partnership with the people directly affected now and in the future.”
The Center builds on the achievements of more than three decades by the Center for Global Change Science and the Joint Program on Global Change Science and Policy, both of which were directed or directed by the professor of science of atmosphere Ronald Prinn.
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