We are thrilled to share highlights from our third year at the Boston University Institute for Global Sustainability.
In 2025, we launched major interdisciplinary research projects and continued to build a robust community from 13 schools and colleges across Boston University. As we grow, we’ve collaborated with partners on research initiatives now totaling $24.4 million in funding.
This year also marked President Gilliam’s arrival at BU, which inspired us to continue our efforts to advance a sustainable and equitable future and build convergent research designed for national and global impact.
IGS By the Numbers
105
faculty affiliates across the University
13
BU schools and colleges with faculty affiliates
$
24.4
M
research funding awarded to IGS and partners to date
$
156
K
allocated in student funding in FY25
2025 Highlights
- The Healey-Driscoll administration awarded IGS and partners $5.7 million for the Clean Energy & Environment Legacy Transition (CELT) Initiative to advance an equitable energy transition in Massachusetts, empower communities, and train the next generation of climate leaders.
- The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded BU a $3 million Training Grant (NRT) for the ENERGIZE Program, a collaborative effort between IGS and the Rafik B. Hariri Center for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering, to train PhD students across disciplines in sustainable energy conversion and storage.
- Ongoing research projects focused on topics such as energy justice in offshore wind development, funded by the U.S. Department of Energy; vulnerabilities in renewable energy supply chains, funded by the Sloan Foundation; stable and safer batteries, partially funded by NSF; energy efficiency programs in Massachusetts, funded by Eversource; sustainable AI infrastructure, funded by the Research Council of Norway; and disaster response and coastal zone hazards, funded by NSF.
- We continued to deepen our partnership with Schneider Electric on building decarbonization and other topics.
- Since our start, we have provided hundreds of students with the opportunity to lead research through our Graduate Student Summer Fellows program and BU’s Campus Climate Lab.
- We’re proud of our growing national and international engagement with organizations such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), the Sandia National Laboratories, and the European Research Council.