Elsa Olivetti

Elsa Olivetti is the associate director of the MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium and the Esther and Harold E. Edgerton Associate Professor in MIT’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT. Her research centers on improving the environmental and economic sustainability of materials in the context of growing global demand.

Her interests span three levels of materials production: operational-level, industrial network-level and market-level strategies. She is focused on two areas with the potential for significant environmental benefits: improving the sustainability of materials through increased use of recycled and renewable materials, recycling-friendly material design, and intelligent waste disposition; and understanding the implications of substitution, dematerialization, and waste mining on materials markets.

Olivetti earned a BS in engineering science from the University of Virginia, and a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from MIT.