Sustainability Research Institute

Advancing Research. Connecting Communities. Shaping a Sustainable Future.

Sustainability Research Institute (SRI) is a cornerstone of the GW Alliance for a Sustainable Future, amplifying and conducting interdisciplinary research, collaboration, and innovation. SRI's mission is to catalyze transformative sustainability research, foster new partnerships, and secure funding for groundbreaking initiatives that address the world’s most pressing environmental and societal challenges.

members of SRI pose with their poster presentations

Research Communities

SRI has organized three evolving, faculty-driven communities that reflect the complexity and interconnectedness of sustainability:

Energy, Technology, and Decision-Making

Cities, Communities, and Infrastructure

Planetary Well-Being and Civic Life

Seed Grants

We support interdisciplinary research and the Research Communities that drive ambitious agendas and pursue major grant opportunities. Our seed funding is designed to spark innovation and amplify impact.

Current Seed Grants

Transforming Food Systems in Ghana: Dr. Moses Kansanga (CCAS), alongside Dr. Caitlin Grady (SEAS) and Dr. Samuel Lederman (Elliott), will research solar-powered cold storage innovation for postharvest loss reduction in Ghana. In the semi-arid northern savannah, vegetable cultivation is a vital livelihood, yet farmers often lose up to 50% of their annual harvest due to a lack of cold storage. This forces many to sell their produce at a fraction of its value, and prices can plummet from $150 to just $10 per basket during peak season. To address this, the team has designed an off-grid, mobile solar cooler capable of serving 150 smallholder farmers. This research is critical for evaluating how green cooling technologies can extend shelf life, avoid greenhouse gas emissions, and ultimately secure fair incomes for vulnerable farming communities.

Mitigating the Hidden Costs of the Digital Age: Dr. Payman Dehghanian (SEAS) and Dr. Kelvin Fong (Milken) will research climate change mitigation and the health impacts of data centers. As the "Data Center Capital of the World," Loudoun County, VA, faces soaring electricity demands often met by fossil fuel power plants, contributing to both air and water pollution. These facilities also strain local water resources through their intensive cooling systems. This project aims to develop a mitigation framework that aligns data center energy demand with renewable energy generation profiles. By leveraging data center flexibility, the team hopes to reduce reliance on polluting power sources and quantify the resulting improvements in local community health and environmental justice.

Mining Waste for Critical Minerals: Dr. Yun Shen (SEAS), Dr. Danmeng Shuai (SEAS), and Dr. Nirbhay Kumar (Milken) will research leveraging bacteria to produce recombinant proteins and peptides for recovering rare earth elements (REE) from waste. REEs are essential for modern technology, but current extraction methods are often inefficient and environmentally damaging. This project proposes a "dual REE bio-recovery microbial platform" that is both sustainable and cost-effective. The team will engineer specific bacteria (Methylorubrum extorquens) to produce organic acids for bioleaching, while using others (E. coli) to display REE-binding proteins like Lanmodulin for biosorption. This innovative approach could unlock a circular economy for critical minerals found in e-waste and low-grade ores.

Tree Resilience in Changing Coastal Forests: Dr. Keryn Gedan (CCAS), alongside Dr. Keith Crandall (Milken) and Dr. Marcos Pérez-Losada (Milken), will research tree adaptation to changing environments by microbial partner-switching. On the Delmarva Peninsula, not far from Washington, DC, sea-level rise and saltwater intrusion are causing large-scale forest mortality, creating "ghost forests." However, some trees survive longer than predicted. The researchers hypothesize that these trees may be surviving by switching their "microbial partners" (such as root-associated fungi) to species that are better at foraging for water in saline conditions. By studying the microbiomes of trees like the loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) and the sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) across salinity gradients, this work could reveal new mechanisms of climate resilience and inform future strategies for assisted forest migration.

Ongoing Seed Grants

2025 Seed Grants

Transition to Renewable Energy via the Design of Local Energy Markets (Professor Hasan Mehrjerdi, School of Engineering and Applied Science)
Mitigating Resistance to Sustainable Future, Energy Technology and Decision Making (Professor Neil Johnson, GW Physics)
Energy Consumption Forecasting (Professor Amir Jafari, GW Data Science; Professor Reza Jafari, GW Data Science)
Revolutionizing Microalgae Harvesting Through Fluid Dynamics (Dr. David Fierli, GW School of Engineering and Applied Science; Professor Matthew Rau, GW School of Engineering and Applied Science)
Utilizing Large Language Models and Generative AI to Predict Electricity Demand (Professor Howie Huang, GW School of Engineering and Applied Science; Dr. Mohammad Hammas Saeed, GW School of Engineering and Applied Science)
Renewing Extractive Sites with Environmental Tourism (RESET) (Professor Scott Odell, GW Geography)
Analyzing the Spatial Dimensions of Consumer Buying Patterns for Clean Vehicle Technologies (Professor John Paul Helveston, GW School of Engineering and Applied Science)
Indigenizing Academic Research (Vera Kuklina, Dept. of Geography and the Environment, CCAS)

2024 Seed Grants

Quantifying the air quality and environmental justice implications of disparities in access to clean vehicles (Professor John Paul Helveston, School of Engineering and Applied Science; Professor Gaige Kerr, Milken Institute School of Public Health)
Exploring the intersection of social vulnerability, water quality, and health outcomes in Washington, D.C. and beyond (Professor Tatiyana Apanasovich, GW Statistics; Professor Xindi (Cindy) Hu, Milken Institute School of Public Health; Professor Judy Wang, GW Statistics)
Climate-induced urban heat islands effect on public health in Arctic cities (Collaboration between SRI and the REACH Center) (Vera Kuklina (GW Geography); Victoria Miles (Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center); Micah Hahn (University of Alaska Anchorage Environmental Health); Andrey Petrov (University of Northern Iowa Geography); Diana Khaziakhmetova (University of Arizona Geography, Development & Environment)

2023 Seed Grants

The Roots and Branches of Sustainability Culture: Extreme Climate Activism (Professor Margaret Gonglewski, Elliott School of International Affairs; Professor Nina Kelsey, Elliott School of International Affairs)
Regulating the Cruise Industry to Address Climate Change Impacts and Other Environmental Harms (Professor Seleni Matus, GW School of Business; Professor Robin Juni, GW Law)
Communication, Conservation, and Indigeneity in Hawai’i (Professor Imani M. Cheers, GW School of Media and Public Affairs; Professor Mona Atia, Elliott School of International Affairs; Professor Aman Luthra, GW Geography)
Standards for Sustainability Governance (Professor Maryam Zarnegar Deloffre, Elliott School of International Affairs)
Water Security, Affordability, Quality, and Trust in Washington, DC (Professor Alicia Cooperman, GW Political Science)

Research Projects

MUST (Measuring Urban Sustainability in Transition)

GET North (Green Energy Transitions in the North)

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Critical Mineral Mining Grant

Arctic Cruise Tourism (ACT)

News & Outreach

We amplify sustainability research from the GW community through storytelling, convenings, and partnerships. From initiative highlights to new discoveries, we connect voices to drive change.