Lauren Aguilar knew she wanted to study energy systems at MIT, but before 1-12 (Climate Systems Science and Engineering) became a fresh undergraduate major, she didn’t see an obvious path to studying the systems aspects of energy, policy, and climate related to the energy transition .
Aguilar was interested in the fresh major, which was launched jointly by the departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) and Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) in 2023. She was able to take classes in engineering systems and gain knowledge about climate.
“Having climate knowledge enriches my knowledge of building reliable and resilient energy systems to mitigate climate change. “Understanding the scale at which we can forecast and anticipate climate change is critical to building the right level of energy infrastructure,” says Aguilar.
The interdisciplinary structure of majors 1-12 allows students to collaborate with and learn from professors in various disciplines throughout the Institute. The blended major was intended to provide a fundamental understanding of the Earth system and engineering principles, as well as an understanding of human and institutional behavior in relation to climate challenges. Students learn basic science through subjects such as atmospheric chemistry classes focusing on the global carbon cycle or physics classes focusing on low-carbon energy systems. The major also covers topics in data science and machine learning as they relate to predicting climate risks and building resilience, as well as research in politics, economics and environmental justice.
Junior Ananda Figueiredo was one of the first students to declare a 1-12 major. Her decision to change direction was driven by a motivation to improve people’s lives, especially when it comes to equality. “I like to look at things from a systems perspective, and climate change is an incredibly complex issue that affects many different elements of our society,” Figueiredo says.
A multi-faceted field of study
Majors 1-12 prepare students with the necessary foundational knowledge across disciplines to address climate change. Andrew Babbin, academic advisor for the fresh degree program and Cecil and Ida Green Associate Professor of Career Development at EAPS, says the fresh major relies on demanding training across science, engineering and policy to design and realize society’s future.
In its first year, the 1-12 course attracted students with diverse interests, from machine learning for sustainability, to nature-based solutions for carbon management, to developing the next renewable energy technologies and integrating them into the energy system.
Academic advisor Michael Howland, assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Esther and Harold E. Edgerton, says the best thing about these studies are the students and the enthusiasm and optimism they bring to the fight against climate change.
“We have students who want to influence politics and students who major in computer science as a second major. For this generation, climate change is a challenge for today, not the future. Their actions in and out of the classroom demonstrate the urgency of the challenge and the promise that we will solve it,” says Howland.
The study program also leaves a lot of room so that students can develop and pursue their interests. Sophomore Katherine Kempff began this spring semester as a junior in grades 1-12 interested in sustainability and renewable energy. Kempff was concerned that she wouldn’t be able to complete her grades 1-12 classes when she moved on to a different set of classes, but Howland assured her there would be no problems given the structure of grades 1-12.
“I really like the flexibility of 1-12. There are many classes that meet the requirements and you are not pigeonholed. I feel that I will be able to do what interests me, and not just follow a designated path of specialization,” says Kempff.
Kempff uses the skills she developed this semester and explores various career interests. This summer she is interviewing for internships in the sustainability and energy sectors in Boston and MIT, and is particularly interested in helping MIT meet its fresh sustainability goals.
Engineering a sustainable future
A fresh core connection of MIT’s commitment to addressing climate change through steps to prioritize and improve climate education. As the Institute continues its efforts to accelerate solutions, students can play a leading role in changing the future.
“Climate awareness is critical for all MIT students, and most of them will have to grapple with the end-of-century consequences of projection models,” Babbin says. “One-12 will be the centerpiece of the climate education mission to train the brightest and most creative students to design a better world and understand the complex science necessary to design and validate whatever solutions they come up with.”
Justin Cole, who transferred to MIT from the University of Colorado in January, served in the United States Air Force for nine years. Throughout his service, he has had a front-row seat to the changing climate. From helping with the cleanup after the Black Forest fires in Colorado – after the state’s most destructive wildfire at the time – to witnessing two Category 5 typhoons in Japan in 2018, Cole’s experiences with these natural disasters reinforced his belief that Climate security is a precondition for international security cooperation.
Cole was recently admitted to MIT Energy and Climate Club Launchpad initiative, in which he will work on solving real climate and energy problems together with industry specialists.
“In my classes, all the threads are coming together and all the hopes I had for studying the climate crisis and solutions to it at MIT are coming true,” Cole says.
As career paths become longer, there is a growing need for scientists and engineers who have both deep knowledge of environmental and climate systems and expertise in climate change mitigation methods.
“Climate science needs to be connected to climate solutions. As we experience more and more climate change, the environmental system is going to increasingly behave in new ways that we haven’t seen in the past,” Howland says. “Climate solutions need to go beyond good engineering of small components. We need to make sure that our system-scale solutions are as effective as possible at mitigating climate change, but are also resilient to it. And there’s no time to waste,” he says.