Student projects in D-Lab classes are defined by community partners and social ventures around the world - we don't always know what is needed, but our community partners do, and our students have technical knowledge and skills to contribute to that work.
Each semester, through a selection of full-semester classes, our students form into teams to work on projects framed by community partners – NGOs, local nonprofits, and social entrepreneurs. At the end of each semester, students present their work to their peers, partners, and guests.
D-Lab Spring 2025 Student Projects
D-Lab: Design
Instructors: Ankita Singh, Eliza Squibb
- Nepal: SunNest
- South Africa: REACH -Reliable Emergency Access for Community Health
- Taiwan: Fly Soldiers
D-Lab: Climate Change and Planetary Health
Instructors: Susan Murcott, Julie Simpson
- US: Analyzing salt marsh change due to climate change
- US: 30 Years of Mass Bay Data
- US: Investor pitch materials to help commercialize an innovative greenhouse gas flux measurement technology and redefine verifications of carbon removal projects.
- US: The MIT Climate Clock and Earth Week Climate Messaging - 2025
D-Lab: Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH)
Instructors: Libby Hsu, Susan Murcott
- Kenya: Defluoridation of drinking water in Nakuru, Kenya
- Madagascar: Tatirano Fog Harvesting
- Nepal: Increasing access to clean drinking water through testing with the ECC vial
- Ukraine: Critical water, wastewater, and thermal infrastructure development for a resilient neighborhood in war-affected Ukraine
Humanitarian Innovation
- Uganda: Motorcycle theft alert
- Uganda: Health emergency alert
- Uganda: Legal aid app for refugees
- Uganda: Poultry incubators
- Uganda: Water pump
- Uganda: Tamia extruder
- Uganda: Smart irrigation project
- Uganda: Business skills app
- Uganda: Foundry project
Design for Complex Environmental Issues
Instructors: Ari Epstein, Joel Grimm, Libby Hsu
Introduction to Energy in Global Development
Instructor: Joshua Paul Maldonado TA: Khadija Ghanizada
- Afghanistan: Micro-irrigation System for Kandahar
- Argentina: Weatherization techniques for informal settlements
- Cameroon: Egg incubator for poultry farmers
Leadership in Design
Instructors: Ankita Singh, Eliza Squibb
- Dominican Republic: Improved fumigation pole
- Ghana: Shea nut grinder
Thermal Energy Networks EC.S06 / EC.S11
Instructors: Susan Murcott, Harvey Michaels
- Ukraine: Critical Thermal Infrastructure Development for a Resilient Neighborhood in War-Affected Ukraine
- US: Potential to Repurpose MIT’s Central Utility Plant via Nuclear Microreactors
- Assessing the Potential of Nuclear Microreactors as a Campus Energy Source
- US: Investigating a Drinking Water Energy Transfer System at MIT
- US: Decarbonizing Mather House with Thermal Energy Networks
- US: Mather House Energy Simulation and Performance Modeling
