Environmental & Social Justice

Sanjana is an engineer, environmental justice researcher, and systems thinker working at the intersection of infrastructure, climate, and technology. She is a PhD student at MIT, where her research focuses on renewable energy, energy justice, and the electric grid. She is the co-founder of Rooted Futures Lab, a research and action collective advancing environmental justice in technology, and Earth Hacks, a nonprofit harnessing hackathons as a form of climate action. Her work has ranged from atmospheric science software engineering at NASA to passing decarbonization policy at the local level. She holds a BS in electrical engineering and physics, and a Master’s in City Planning from MIT.

Emily studies community wealth building in immigrant & BIPOC communities through economic and climate justice, and is working with the City of Boston on community-based participatory action research and worker cooperative ecosystems.

Summer examines how increasingly digital landscapes affect workers and ecologies, broadening discussions about the future of work, race, and the limits of data in the face of the climate crisis.

Ataya (Ute, Assiniboine, Lakota) examines the complex and contradictory relationships between oil and gas development, tribal sovereignty, and environmental justice on the northern Ute reservation.

Landry strives to integrate environmental justice principles with ecological stewardship and foster connection through food and forestry.

Nicole explores the intersection of affordable housing and climate equity, including building energy retrofit strategies that can reduce energy burden, prevent displacement, and target climate investments to low-income communities of color.

Jazz's studies are concentrated in sustainability and design/development. He has worked on issues such as extreme heat, air quality, community engagement and schoolyard greening.

Alejandra is a transnational emerging scholar cross-pollinating Indigenous ways of knowing, agroecology, and ecological economics to conserve stingless honeybees.

Sydney is a researcher and community organizer based in Eastern Connecticut. Her work focuses on the intersection of farmer viability, food access and environmental sustainability.