How We Do It
WPI's Sustainability Plan (2020-2025)
Developed with the support and input of faculty, staff, administration, and students, WPI's five-year Sustainability Plan turns vision into action by using our strengths to lead initiatives on campus, in the community, and across the world to protect the environment, ensure economic security, and work for social justice for all people.
New Partnership Accelerates WPI’s Efforts to Reduce Its Carbon Footprint
WPI has formed a 40-year partnership with Chicago-based investment management firm Harrison Street that will provide $45 million for the university’s strategic initiatives and accelerate work to reduce WPI’s carbon footprint by expanding energy-conservation measures, improving WPI’s power plant, and developing sustainable energy technologies for the WPI campus. The partnership also will lead to new research opportunities for students and faculty.
Sustainability of the Built Environment
Researchers from civil, environmental, and architectural engineering, along with colleagues from The Global School, are working on sustainable construction materials and building designs, computational models, and other advances that could not only reduce emissions related to construction and operation of the built environment, but help communities plan for and adapt to disasters and economic impacts intensified by a changing climate.
Co-Creating a Caribbean Climate Adaptation Network
A team of researchers from The Global School has been awarded funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to co-create a Caribbean Climate Adaptation Network (CCAN) to address and adapt to climate change—including extreme weather events—in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. Graduate and undergraduate students will be integral to advancing CCAN’s research, including students completing project work at the Puerto Rico Project Center.
Faculty Experts
WPI faculty expertise in sustainability is comprehensive, covering everything from climate change and renewable energy to sustainable business practices and environmental policy. In true WPI fashion, our faculty often pool their knowledge and their passions, collaborating with colleagues across academic departments and programs with a shared purpose: creating a world where ecosystems and societies are able to thrive.
