The year 2030 marks the deadline for the United Nations' Agenda for Sustainable Development. This comprehensive framework, embraced by all UN member states including the United States in 2015, mobilizes worldwide initiatives to protect our planet, eliminate poverty, promote peace, and ensure universal human rights. With less than a decade remaining, these sustainable development objectives continue to represent ambitious yet essential targets for humanity.
MIT Lincoln Laboratory has been significantly expanding its commitment to developing cutting-edge technology solutions aligned with these goals. "We must explore innovative approaches where artificial intelligence and advanced technologies can address our most pressing humanitarian, climate, and health challenges," explains Jon Pitts, who directs Lincoln Laboratory's Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Systems Group.
To stimulate these crucial conversations, Pitts and Mischa Shattuck, Lincoln Laboratory's senior humanitarian advisor, recently introduced a pioneering lecture series titled the Future of Humanitarian Technology.
The inaugural session on April 28 featured Lincoln Laboratory researchers presenting three interconnected themes: climate change adaptation, disaster response enhancement, and global health innovation. This enlightening webinar was freely accessible to the public, showcasing how AI technology is transforming humanitarian efforts worldwide.
Accelerating Climate Solutions with AI
Deb Campbell, a senior staff member in the HADR Systems Group, initiated the discussion by exploring methods to accelerate national and global responses to climate change through artificial intelligence.
"Given the compressed timeline and complex challenges, making evidence-based decisions about our path forward is absolutely critical," she noted. "We employ systems analysis and architecture to develop a comprehensive national climate change resilience roadmap that leverages AI for optimal outcomes."
This strategic plan maximizes implementation of existing solutions like wind and solar energy while identifying research gaps where innovation is necessary to achieve specific targets. One significant initiative involves transitioning the United States to a completely zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) fleet in the coming decades; California has already mandated that all new car sales must be ZEV by 2035. Systems analysis reveals that achieving this transformation requires enhanced electric grid infrastructure, expanded charging networks, advanced battery technology, and development of greener alternative fuels during the transition period.
Campbell also emphasized the vital role of regional proving grounds in accelerating technology deployment nationwide and globally. These designated areas enable testing of climate-related prototypes under real-world conditions. For instance, the Northeast's aging and strained energy infrastructure requires upgrading to meet future demands, making it an ideal location for implementing and evaluating new systems. The Southwest, facing significant water scarcity challenges, can serve as a testing ground for ultra-efficient water utilization technologies and atmospheric water harvesting methods. Currently, Campbell and her team are conducting a study to establish a regional proving ground concept in Massachusetts.
"We must continuously assess technological advancements and strategically direct investments to meet these aggressive timelines," Campbell concluded.
Revolutionizing Disaster Response Through AI
The United States experiences more natural disasters than any other nation globally, spending $800 billion on recovery efforts over the past decade, with average recovery periods extending to seven years.
"Information lies at the heart of effective disaster support," stated Chad Council, another researcher in the HADR Systems Group. "Understanding impact locations and severity drives decisions about support quantity and type, establishing the foundation for successful recovery. Our current approaches remain too slow and expensive for future needs."
By 2030, Council believes the government could save lives and reduce costs by implementing a national remote sensing platform enhanced with artificial intelligence for disaster response. This system would utilize an open architecture integrating advanced sensor data, field information, modeling, and AI-driven analytics to deliver standardized critical information to emergency managers nationwide. Such a platform could enable highly accurate virtual site inspections, wide-area search-and-rescue operations, city-scale road damage assessments, and comprehensive debris quantification.
"To be clear, no single sensor solution fits all disaster scenarios," Council explained. "While certain systems excel in large-scale disasters, smaller events might be better addressed by local transportation departments deploying small drones for damage imaging. The key is developing a national platform that produces data in formats familiar to local governments, ensuring trust and usability when major disaster responses are necessary."
Over the next two years, the team plans to collaborate with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. National Guard, national laboratories, and academic institutions to develop this open architecture. Concurrently, a prototype remote sensing asset will be shared among state and local governments to build enthusiasm and trust. According to Council, a comprehensive national remote sensing strategy for disaster response could be operational by late 2029.
Predicting Disease Outbreaks with Machine Learning
Kajal Claypool, a senior staff member in the Biological and Chemical Technologies Group, concluded the session by discussing how artificial intelligence can predict and mitigate disease spread.
She asked the audience to imagine nine years in the future, facing three simultaneous global health crises: a new Covid-30 variant spreading worldwide, vector-borne diseases expanding across Central and South America, and the first Ebola carrier arriving in Atlanta. "What if we could integrate data from existing surveillance systems, social media, environmental conditions, weather patterns, political unrest indicators, and migration trends, then apply AI analytics to predict outbreaks with precise geolocation accuracy, potentially preventing that first Ebola carrier from boarding their flight?" she questioned. "None of these scenarios are far-fetched possibilities."
While artificial intelligence has been applied to address some of these challenges, Claypool noted that current solutions remain fragmented and isolated. One of the greatest obstacles to using AI tools for global health challenges is data harmonization—the process of integrating diverse data with varying semantics and formats into cohesive datasets.
"We believe the optimal solution is establishing a federated, open, and secure data platform where information can be shared across stakeholders and nations without compromising control at national, state, or organizational levels," Claypool proposed. "These data silos must be dismantled, and capabilities must be made accessible to low- and middle-income countries."
Over the coming years, the laboratory team aims to develop this global health AI platform, building it incrementally—one disease and one region at a time. The proof of concept will begin with malaria, which causes 1.2 million deaths annually. While numerous interventions exist to combat malaria outbreaks, including vaccines, Claypool emphasized that predicting hotspots and providing decision support for timely intervention is crucial. The next major milestone will involve delivering data-driven diagnostics and intervention strategies worldwide for additional disease conditions.
"This represents an ambitious yet achievable vision," she affirmed. "It requires the right partnerships, trust, and forward-thinking approach to become reality, ultimately reducing disease transmission and saving lives globally."
Addressing humanitarian challenges represents an expanding R&D focus at Lincoln Laboratory. Last fall, the organization established a new research division, Biotechnology and Human Systems, to further explore global issues related to climate change, health, and humanitarian assistance.
"Our objective is fostering collaboration and communication with a broader community across all these critical domains," Pitts emphasized. "These issues are tremendously important and complex, requiring substantial global cooperation to create meaningful impact."
The next event in this series is scheduled for September.
