Research
In 2022, MIT MAD and the Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) co-created “Designing for Sustainability.” This program, funded by the Hasso Plattner Foundation, is a multi-year partnership to drive joint scientific design research in multidisciplinary teams at both institutes. It focuses on sustainable design, innovation, and digital technologies, through the allocation of approximately ten grants of up to $200,000 per year.
Creative collaboration across spatial, temporal, and cultural boundaries is central to design. The program's vision is to develop ambitious, long-term explorations related to the innovation strategies of design, to generate sustainable impact for society across various domains of practice. Design research teams with divergent backgrounds in computer science, AI, machine learning, engineering, planning, architecture, natural sciences, humanities, business and management are encouraged to apply.
We are thrilled to collaborate with HPI to apply the power of design to sustainability and digital technologies. By working together, the research talents of HPI and MIT can accelerate design innovations for a low-carbon economy.
— John Ochsendorf, founding director of the MIT Morningside Academy for Design
Alongside artificial intelligence, design research is a key driver for innovation in sustainability.
— Ralf Herbrich, managing director and professor at HPI, Chair for Artificial Intelligence and Sustainability
HPI–MIT Designing for Sustainability Workshop
2025-26 Application is now open
See the application page for details about the program components, dates, and eligibility.
Open to MIT and HPI Principal Investigators
2024-25 Funded Projects
AI-Enabled Design of Electroactive Surfaces for Sustainable Cell Culture
Addresses two critical challenges in biomedical science: managing the vast quantity of cell culture waste and improving the viability of sensitive primary cells. This research paves the way for more accurate three-dimensional cell cultures and multicellular engineered living systems, fostering a deeper understanding of complex biological processes and expediting drug discovery and development.
Principal Investigators: Dr. Christoph Lippert (HPI), Prof. Kripa Varanasi (MIT, Mechanical Engineering)
Using AI and Immersive Technologies to Experience the Future Self and Support Sustainable Dietary Choices
Employs episodic future thinking (EFT) interventions to increase the degree to which an individual considers distal future consequences when making dietary decisions. This research explores novel and immersive interventions to aid healthy and environmentally sustainable dietary choices by allowing users to empathize with their future selves through emerging technologies like virtual reality and generative AI.
Principal Investigators: Dr. Falk Uebernickel (HPI), Prof. Pattie Maes (MIT, Media Lab)
Advancing Digital Sustainability in Health Care
Aims to develop an Artificial Intelligence (AI) agent that remains updated on patient experiences by analyzing and enhancing text conversations in peer-to-peer support forums and capturing user needs. The project intends to address the challenge of low user retention in digital health technologies and contribute to the fields of digital health sustainability, AI in healthcare, and human-centered design to offer actionable insights for policymakers and researchers.
Principal Investigators: Dr. Ariel Stern (HPI), Prof. Marzyeh Ghassemi (MIT, EECS)
Rethinking the Product Design Process of 3D Printed Objects with Recycled Materials
Investigates how to inform the product design and material assignment for novel manufacturing, such as 3D printing, based on the state of recycled materials, which have poorer mechanical performance post-recycling. This project aims to develop design tools to support both manual product design with recycled materials as well as automatic generation of products with generative AI suitable for manufacturing with recycled materials of different structural properties.
Principal Investigators: Dr. Patrick Baudisch (HPI), Prof. Stefanie Mueller (MIT, EECS)
The projects Sidewalk Ballet, Predicting Functional Effects of Genetic Variants, 2D Magnetic Material for Sustainable AI, and Automatic Example Generation for Babylonian Programming, previously funded in 2023-24, continue receiving support for the 2024-25 academic year.
2023-24 Funded Projects
Telesymbiosis
Aims to shift from an egocentric to an ecocentric work approach in design, considering the impact on human-nature relationships. It focuses on creating perspective-taking objects to help designers empathize with diverse needs in ecosystems, promoting sustainable design.
Principal Investigators: Prof. Dr. Bert Arnrich (HPI), Prof. Hiroshi Ishii (MIT, Media Lab)
Sidewalk Ballet
A scalable urban analytic approach for explaining social qualities of urban streets: Conducts a large-scale analysis of social interactions on urban streets, considering demographics, design features, and land use. It seeks to understand what makes some streets more vibrant and lively than others.
Principal Investigators: Prof. Dr. Gerard de Melo (HPI), Prof. Andres Sevtsuk (MIT, DUSP)
Read the story about this project Street Smarts on MIT News.
Predicting Functional Effects of Genetic Variants
Combines proteomics, transcriptomics, and clinical health records to predict the functional effects of mutations in voltage-gated ion channels using AI methods.
Principal Investigators: Prof. Dr. Bernhard Renard (HPI), Prof. Connor Coley (MIT, Chemical Engineering)
2D Magnetic Material for Sustainable AI
Focuses on designing 2D magnetic material-based stochastic computing devices to create energy-efficient computers, contributing to environmentally sustainable Artificial Intelligence.
Principal Investigators: Prof. Dr. Ralf Herbrich (HPI), Prof. Deblina Sarkar (MIT, Media Lab)
Culture and the Supply Chain
Explores developing a shared value model of cybersecurity that can be transmitted and adopted by organizations throughout the supply chain, aiming to advance cybersecurity norms and practices adoption.
Principal Investigators: Prof. Dr. Christian Doerr (HPI), Dr. Keri Pearlson (MIT, Sloan School of Management)
Automatic Example Generation for Babylonian Programming
Bridges the gap between domain experts and programmers by introducing interactive examples meaningful to all stakeholders in the programming environment, making software development more participatory.
Principal Investigators: Prof. Dr. Robert Hirschfeld (HPI), Prof. Martin Rinard (MIT, CSAIL)
AI-Powered Startup Design for the Anthropocene
Explores AI-augmented decision-support systems to improve startup success forecasting, especially for enterprises addressing planetary challenges.
Principal Investigators: Dr. Frank Pawlitschek (HPI), Prof. Dr. Gerard de Melo (HPI), Prof. John Fernandez, (MIT, Architecture and ESI), Prof. Svafa Grönfeldt (MIT, SA+P, designX)
Personalizing Product Design with Minimal Material Waste
Investigates how to allow customers to personalize products while optimizing material use in novel digital manufacturing processes.
Principal Investigators: Prof. Patrick Baudisch (HPI), Prof. Stefanie Mueller (MIT, EECS)
Securing the Global Supply Chain
Despite growing standards, this project addresses the unintended cybersecurity risks introduced by some regulations in supply chains.
Principal Investigators: Prof. Christian Doerr (HPI), Dr. Keri Pearlson (MIT, Sloan School of Management)
Generative Models for Novel Antimicrobials
Explores the use of AI to design novel therapeutic agents and combat antibiotic resistance, a critical global health threat.
Principal Investigators: Prof. Bernhard Renard (HPI), Prof. Regina Barzilay (MIT, CSAIL)