Bridging sustainable research, education and community partnerships, Pitt\u2019s Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation is advancing environmentally conscious solutions that span disciplines and sectors.<\/p>\n
The Mascaro Center<\/a>\u2019s 2024-25 annual report<\/a>, released in October 2025, features students and faculty involved in integrative research<\/a>, multidisciplinary sustainability initiatives and collaborative community engagement<\/a>. Highlights from the report include over $2.9 million in funding for research efforts through seed grants<\/a> and John C. Mascaro Awards,<\/a> increased student engagement in sustainability initiatives and the growth of K-12 outreach<\/a> and summer research programs<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Mascaro Center \u2014 the University-wide sustainability center established in 2003 \u2014 provides opportunities for students, staff and faculty to become involved in research, collaborative projects and wider community outreach involving sustainable, solution-oriented efforts. A core value of the Mascaro Center, according to its website<\/a>, is recognizing and advancing solutions to climate change<\/a> and its societal<\/a> and health impacts<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Melissa Bilec, co-director of the Mascaro Center, said what stands out to her in this year\u2019s report is the extensive range of activities and projects the Mascaro Center is involved in and the increased student involvement in sustainability efforts.<\/p>\n \u201cStudent engagement is strong, especially through programs like the Undergraduate Certificate in Sustainability<\/a> and our summer research experience,\u201d Bilec said.<\/p>\n Bilec said faculty members in every school at Pitt are involved in the Mascaro Center\u2019s sustainability work.<\/p>\n \u201cSustainability is not just something you study in environmental science and engineering, but something you encounter in business, humanities and the arts,\u201d Bilec said. \u201cThe Mascaro Center supports faculty through seed grants that encourage cross-disciplinary research. We also help develop new courses and certificates that embed sustainability into different fields.\u201d<\/p>\n Bilec said the Mascaro Center has exciting goals for the year ahead. One continued priority is expanding interdisciplinary research collaboration to bring people from engineering, public health and the social sciences together to tackle global challenges from multiple angles, according to Bilec.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cA new online program in sustainable healthcare is soon to come. On the community side, there continues to be a push to deepen community partnerships \u2014 especially in Pittsburgh neighborhoods,\u201d Bilec said. \u201cGlobally, we are aiming to build more industry and international connections, which could really amplify the impact of our work.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Cynthia Ofori-Boateng, an assistant professor of chemical engineering and John C. Mascaro Faculty Fellow<\/a>, was featured in the report for her project on the sustainable generation of bio-products<\/a>. She said involvement with different areas of study has enabled her project to be more successful.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a biology student who brings their expertise \u2014 along with engineering and chemistry students \u2014 which enables collaboration across different departments for the project,\u201d Ofori-Boateng said. \u201cThe experiments are facilitated by new, powerful equipment that the Mascaro Center has provided us, and we are seeing great results.\u201d<\/p>\n Ofori-Boateng\u2019s project centers around turning waste \u2014 in the form of spent coffee grounds and food waste \u2014 into bio-products that can be reused. She said it is essential to thoroughly educate and involve students in this work.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Mascaro Center does a lot of outreach programs, which bolsters and helps my project,\u201d Ofori-Boateng said. \u201cI have the opportunity to attend seminars, workshops and conferences through the Mascaro Center, and then I transfer the knowledge I gained there to my students.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Lakshmi Ananthabhotla, a fourth-year chemical and petroleum engineering doctoral student and Covestro Fellow<\/a> through the Mascaro Center, was featured in the report for her research on the breaking down and recycling of polyurethane<\/a>, a chemical used in a wide range of consumer products. She highlighted the Covestro Circular Economy Program<\/a>\u2019s multidisciplinary approach.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen working with the Mascaro Center, I was told to take classes from different departments,\u201d Ananthabhotla said. \u201cThey had me take a class from a law school, a business school, an economics school and some engineering classes \u2014 every area works toward solving real-world problems in a very different way, and this breadth is applicable to our overall approach to sustainability.\u201d<\/p>\n Ananthabhotla said her project involves tackling sustainability from a different perspective \u2014 one that requires looking at things from an atomic level.<\/p>\n \u201cI am trying to use machine learning<\/a> to replicate quantum chemistry<\/a> methods and to effectively train a machine learning model for the central goal of recycling polyurethane. I\u2019m a computational person, and so this cross-discipline study was definitely outside my comfort zone, but using this approach is so, so important,\u201d Ananthabhotla said.<\/p>\n Bilec says Pitt has many strengths, and the Mascaro Center is focusing on leveraging pre-existing opportunities and resources, as opposed to recreating programs. Their 2026 summer research program<\/a> will include partners from the Pittsburgh Water Collaboratory<\/a>, Responsible Data Science<\/a> and the Office of Sustainability in Health Science<\/a>, according to Bilec.\u00a0<\/p>\n