MIT’s S-Lab
Sarah Slaughter, Senior Lecturer, Sloan School of Management at MIT
The Sloan School of Management at MIT offers a course that specifically addresses how organizations of all kinds – including traditional manufacturing firms, those that extract resources, a huge variety of new start-ups, non-profits, and governmental organizations of all types – are tackling the massive challenges of sustainability. The course includes the S-Lab, where teams of students focus on “live” projects with an organization that has requested help in thinking through a challenge or opportunity related to sustainability. The goal of S-Lab is to provide students with an opportunity to apply the concepts, theories and tools through working with host organizations on their actual sustainability projects. Each team professionally and effectively delivers analysis, advice and recommendations that are immediately useful to the host organization and advance the field of sustainability as a whole. The teams make a formal presentation to the host organization at the end of the project and provide them with a final report, including supporting written analysis and data as appropriate, and present a project poster for the MIT and wider community.
Students at S-La
The host organizations often incorporate the S-Lab team results into their policies and procedures, reflecting the real-time value of the topic for their organization. Host organizations have also followed up on the S-Lab results through additional collaboration with MIT faculty and staff, including subsequent course-based projects, internships, and research programs.
