About

Who we are

The Laboratory for Aviation and the Environment is a research lab in the MIT Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics. The team is interdisciplinary, covering expertise in Aeronautical, Mechanical and Chemical Engineering, Atmospheric Science and Economics.

Please find our team here.

LAE Statement on Diversity & Inclusion

LAE is a research space where anyone who is committed to working towards the lab’s key objectives is welcome, valued and supported for their humanity, without bias or prejudice relating to race, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, citizenship, national origin, immigration status, skin color, disabilities, age, political views, socioeconomic status, veteran status, or any other attribute that makes us unique. We encourage our members to be vigilant of our implicit biases, to speak up when we notice it in our community, and to commit to consistently work on improving the lab climate. LAE is a space where our diversity strengthens our collaboration to advance our understanding of how to create a sustainable, safe and more connected world.

Feel free to peruse MIT’s diversity & inclusion resources at this link!

What we do

For more than two decades, LAE and its predecessors at MIT have developed methods that help understand and quantify the environmental impacts of aviation and of cognate industries (e.g. transportation and energy).

In addition, LAE researchers apply their methods to quantify the costs and benefits of operational, regulatory and technological mitigation options to reduce these impacts. The LAE team also assesses and develops novel technologies that help reduce the environmental footprint of aviation.

The team is focused on the following fields:

Climate

Modeling of the historical, current and future climate impacts of aviation, including contrails.


Air Quality

Analysis of air quality impacts and mitigation options for aviation and other sectors – from local to global scale.


Fuels

Quantification of the environmental impacts and economic feasibility of different fuels, including alternative fuels.


Technology

Development of novel technologies that help mitigate aviation’s environmental impacts.

In our publications, you can find detailed insights into past studies and their results.

To learn about our work on electric aircraft, please also visit MIT’s Electric Aircraft Initiative website.