Inaugural Anthony Janetos Climate Action Prize Winners Announced

Boston University recently awarded the inaugural Anthony Janetos Climate Action Prize to Gayatri Sundar Rajan (Mechanical Engineering, ENG ’22) and Keeley Bombard (Earth & Environment, CAS ’22) for their outstanding contributions to sustainability efforts at BU.

The Prize, which includes a financial gift to the winners, is awarded annually to the student or team of students involved in a project through BU’s Campus Climate Lab that is judged to have the most substantial impact on advancing the goals of BU’s Climate Action Plan.

Gayatri and Keeley’s research, which they conducted with Prof. Michael Gevelber and Prof. Nathan Phillips, aims to significantly reduce BU’s greenhouse gas emissions by developing strategies to electrify the Charles River Campus. Their project developed a preliminary strategy to electrify 52 percent of BU’s fossil fuels-based heating energy use.

The award is named in honor of the late  Prof. Tony Janetos, Director of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future from 2013-2019. Tony chaired the 2017 Climate Action Plan Task Force, which led to the creation of the University-wide Climate Action Plan and the Campus Climate Lab. His leadership in the development and early implementation of the Plan inspired this award as a way to memorialize him and those important efforts.

Contributions to the Prize fund are being accepted here.