Join the MIT Sloan Sustainability Inititative's Monthly Research Lunch!

Working towards global sustainability: bridging societal and engineering solutions 

Stacy Godfreey-Igwe

E62-346

Tues 3/8 12-1pm

Description: 

We tend to give the term “sustainability” a more technical and engineering focus at a place like MIT. But what does sustainability also mean in the context of our communities, cultures, and institutions? Through an overview of the research journey of an MIT undergraduate, the meaning of sustainability and the power of climate change research in supporting globally marginalized communities will be further discussed and explored. 

 Speaker Bio:

MIT Senior Stacy Godfreey-Igwe is a double major in mechanical engineering with a concentration in global and sustainable development and in African and African diaspora studies, a major she helped establish and became the first student to declare. 

Through an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) project with Amah Edoh, Homer A. Burnell Associate Professor of Anthropology and African Studies at MIT, Godfreey-Igwe has learned more about Igbo’s cultural heritage and hopes to understand the future climate change poses for cultural sustainability. Godfreey-Igwe herself is the “Ada” – or eldest child – in her family, a role that holds the responsibility of keeping her family’s culture alive. This sense of responsibility to her community and future generations remained with her at MIT.

During her time at MIT she traveled to Kazakhstan through MIT’s Global Teaching Labs where she taught Kazakh high school chemistry students about polymers and the impact plastic materials can have on the Earth’s climate. She was also an MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI) Identity X Ambassador, blogging about her experiences as a Black woman in the country.  She also interned for the Saathi Biodegradable Sanitary Napkins Startup in Ahmedabad, India, worked in a lab at Stanford University’s civil and environmental engineering department to create and design models maximizing the efficiency of bacterial processes leading to the creation of bioplastics, and was awarded a grant through the NSF Center for Sustainable Polymers at the University of Minnesota to work on a research project seeking to understand microplastic generation.

Godfreey-Igwe also tutors one-on-one for Tutoring Plus in Cambridge, and is a member of Active Community Engagement FPOP (ACE), a social action group on campus that engages with local communities through public service work.

Looking ahead, Godfreey-Igwe hopes to use the skills learned from her mentorship and leadership roles to establish greater structures for collaboration on climate mitigation technologies, ideas, and practices. Focusing on mentoring young scientists of color, she wants to build up underprivileged groups and institutions for sustainable climate change research, ensuring everyone has a voice in the ongoing conversation.