Building Community at the Spring 2025 Meet & Greet



The Policy School’s Spring 2025 Policy School Meet & Greet event brought together many new and familiar faces in a friendly space to exchange ideas, build connections, and tap into the Policy School community’s strength and resilience.

Confronting Climate Change in Bangladesh

Prof. Laura Kuhl spent February in Bangladesh as a visiting researcher with the International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD), exploring synergies and research collaborations on locally-led adaptation and loss and damage. She met with government officials, academics, and NGO and think tank leaders, and joined ICCCAD teams for fieldwork across the country. She also provided capacity-building sessions and lectures for students and researchers.   

Sounding the Alarm on Microplastics

Policy School Director Maria Ivanova was part of a panel discussion that followed a Northeastern screening of director Ben Addelman's documentary Plastic People: The Hidden Crisis of Microplastics. The film investigates humanity’s addiction to plastic and explores the health implications of microplastics.

Riding the Wave of the Future at Davos

At the 2025 Davos AI Summit, Policy School Director Maria Ivanova joined the Architects of the Global Future panel to discuss Eco Wave Power and the role of AI in advancing sustainable energy solutions. 

Cultivating Young Entrepreneurs

Prof. Nishith Prakash's intervention (implemented in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India) on teaching young people to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset received two Money Awareness and Inclusion Awards (MAIA) for Best Entrepreneurship Education and Best Project in a Developing Economy.

Translating Quantitative into Narrative

Prof. Moira Zellner is part of an interdisciplinary Northeastern team led by Dani Snyder-Young that received a Higher Learning Open Call grant from the Mellon Foundation. Their project focuses on Data Theatre for Civic Deliberation, translating quantitative data into embodied storytelling through data theatre workshops and participatory performance events.

Sharing Strength at Town Hall

Policy School students, faculty, and staff gathered at a February Town Hall to bring their voices forward and foster the resilience of the School's community amid rapidly changing political and academic landscapes.

Calling for Extreme Measures

Policy School Director Maria Ivanova joined Sonia Seneviratne, Mary Rice, and Justin Worland for a discussion on "Climate Extremes: Planetary and Human Health Under Stress." The panel, organized by SwissNex, explored how global action must respond to the impact of climate extremes on human health and the environment. 

Advancing the Sciences Locally and Globally

Several Policy School faculty participated in The American Assocation for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS) annual meeting at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. Prof. Maria Ivanova participated in a panel on “Climate Extremes: Global, Health, and Community Impacts." Prof. Alicia Modestino spoke about Northeastern’s Global Campus Network for Community Engaged Research. Rebecca Riccio facilitated a workshop, including Prof. Kimberly D. Lucas, on “Equitable Community-Engaged Research: A Win for Science, Social Impact, and Funding."

Achieving Excellence in Ecology

Prof. Gabriela Garcia was selected by The Ecological Society of America (ESA) for the 2025 cohort of ESA Excellence in Ecology (EEE) Scholars. This prestigious scholarship celebrates and supports outstanding ecologists from traditionally underrepresented groups in science and includes a $5,000 grant.

Tackling Gentrification in Boston’s Chinatown

Prof. Lily Song is giving her students in ARCH5115: Anti-Displacement Studio opportunities to collaborate with community leaders on ideas to keep the neighborhood’s longtime residents and small businesses in place amid development and gentrification.

Striving to Make Carbon Neutrality a Reality

Prof. Serena Alexander led a research project entitled "Consistent VMT Mapping and Modeling in California: How Can We Better Assess the VMT Impacts of State and Local Transportation Projects?" Despite California’s ambitious target to achieve carbon neutrality by 2045, the state is not reducing greenhouse gas emissions, which continue to increase.

Thanking Our Community Partners



In Spring 2025, the Policy School Capstone is home to 76 graduating students, 21 community partners, and five faculty, across three modalities (online, in-person – Boston, in-person – Arlington). We are proud of our students’ contributions and deeply grateful for the collaborative efforts of our community partners in shaping the next generation of thinkers, doers, and dreamers.

Simulating Urban Sustainability

On Feb 22, the Northeastern Association for Public Policy Students (NAPPS) hosted its first Urban Sustainability Simulation. organized by Tayte Adderley ’25 (MPP). Student teams competed in a game scenario focused on an urban water crisis occurring in fictional Freeport City. Participants were charged, as the Freeport Water Task Force's policy analysts, to implement policies that would bring about water sustainability in the city.

Creating Sustainable Food Systems in the South

PhD student David Jefferson attended SOWTH 2025, an conference that brought together farmers, ranchers, researchers, advocates, and producers from across the Southeast to discuss the future of agriculture and food systems.

David attended several workshops and toured High Hog Farm--a space deeply rooted in Black Agrarianism and ancestral arts-- where he learned about agroecological and regenerative farming practices, rotational livestock grazing, and the cultivation of food, fibers, and natural dyes from heritage breeds and heirloom seeds.

Building London Policy Bridges

Manushi Sharma '25 (MPP), who completed a co-op at United Nations University Centre for Research and Policy (UNU-CPR) helped organize and presented her findings at the the Global (Dis)Order Conference at the British Academy in London. At the conference, Policy School Director Maria Ivanova participated in UNU-CPR-sponsored Global Governance Innovation Workshop, which aimed to foster transformative ideas, engage experts in rethinking global governance frameworks, and tackle the challenges of a rapidly changing world.

Rolling Down the River

PhD student Gerardo Gentil conducted field research throughout the Missouri River valley and co-authored with Prof. Damon Hall a paper in Environmental Management on local perceptions of flooding and river management in the Lower Missouri River Basin.

Making a Difference from the Local to the Global