Waste Not, Build More

Hundreds of millions of tons of rubbish—that’s what households within the US alone generate on an annual basis. The enormous problem of waste propels Elsa Olivetti PhD ’07, Thomas Lord Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, to investigate the economic and environmental impact of materials selection. With support from the Tata Center for Technology and Design, her research on the beneficial uses of industrial byproducts recently brought her to India, where she developed an energy-efficient process for converting boiler ash into a new kind of brick with superior strength. According to Olivetti—who dedicates this work to the memory of cement science pioneer Hamlin Jennings (1946–2015)—“We’re addressing a significant environmental problem in this region, and we’re doing so in a way that we think will actually be implemented.”