D-Lab Lecturer and Research Scientist Dan Sweeney is held in the highest esteem as a community builder at D-Lab, around MIT, and across the world.
Kind, collaborative, and supportive of the efforts of everyone at D-Lab, Dan is as quick to contribute to a peer-reviewed journal paper as he is to lend a hand to a student in the workshop. “I have never met anyone as committed to helping others as Dan,” writes an MIT alum. “Everyone (MIT affiliated or not) knows you can ask Dan for help with just about anything. He approaches all aspects of his job with unconditional positivity, creating a productive and inclusive learning environment for his students and colleagues.”
Dan, who joined D-Lab in 2013, is known for bringing people together. Early on, he introduced the D-Lab community to Fikas – Swedish-style coffee breaks – that he had grown to appreciate during a Fulbright Fellowship. Dan has also co-organized many D-Lab music nights through the
years. “At my first music night at D-Lab,” says D-Lab’s executive director, “Dan was plucking away at a salvaged guitar he had glued back together (because why waste a good instrument?!) and immediately made me feel welcomed.”
Establishing community is as important for Dan’s research and fieldwork as it is for team building at MIT. “Dan develops relationships with his collaborators and continues to cultivate them over time. He has had long-standing relationships with collaborators in Uganda, India, and Nepal,” says D-Lab’s associate director for research. “He has set up several international communities of practice related to charcoal production and Internet of Things. Years later, Dan continues to support those communities, even when the work is largely unfunded.”
As part of the D-Lab academic team, Dan has developed programs and generated research about cleaner-burning fuel and cookstoves that have been embedded into D-Lab classes, running memorable semi-annual charcoal-making sessions to teach students about this important component of D-Lab’s work. Since 2017, Dan has taught the original D-Lab: Energy class, and with a colleague, he developed a second class, Applications of Energy in Global Development.
“Dan has approached teaching with his welcoming nature, ensuring that both classes are accessible and fulfilling for any student at any level,” says D-Lab’s associate director of Academics. “Leading two student trips per year,” she continues, “we believe Dan has spent more time in the field with students than any other D-Lab staff except Founding Director Amy Smith. His enthusiasm for the work, and for engaging students in it, is infectious.”
Take it from a former undergraduate: “Dan is the guy that will brew you a cup of coffee in the morning, guide you through tedious thermodynamics calculations, reply to your midnight WhatsApp messages while you're troubleshooting a project overseas, and make you a week’s worth of chili to feed your family during the passing of a loved one. I know because he's done all those things for me.”
While making chili appears to be a common theme for Dan among his fans, blood-sucking bugs feature as well (though blessedly less so). “I have seen Dan help an inexperienced researcher hike up a mountain with leeches around every corner during field research, and invite students to his home to share chili he provided at the end of the semester,” notes a current graduate student. “It is clear from his actions that Dan cares deeply about the MIT community.”
Dan’s commitment to community extends far beyond the MIT campus. Within weeks of his hire, he was overseas working side-by-side with small community briquette producers in East Africa, elbow-deep in charcoal dust and shoulder-high in maize stalks. Dan brought to this work his respectful nature, keen scientific mind, natural affinity for collaboration and camaraderie, and focus on getting results with people who especially need them – rigorous, cost-effective, eco-friendly results. “Dan respects local community people’s opinions and seeks their views and feedback when designing projects,” says the executive director of TEWDI Uganda, who has worked with Dan since 2014.
“Dan, in many ways, embodies the spirit of D-Lab,” says D-Lab’s founding director. “In his fieldwork, he develops relationships with community partners in a way that builds trust, collaboration, and friendship. He is a much-loved member of our staff!”