An elephant steps through the mud

Sustaining a Healthy Planet

At Tufts, we take sustainability to heart. Our campus planning gets steadily “greener” as our academic enterprises continue to generate promising ideas and solutions, in areas spanning renewable energy, conservation, urban planning and international policy.  

  • In 2019 Tufts University earned a STARS Silver rating in recognition of its sustainability achievements from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE).
Staying Power.
Replacing a 60-year-old facility, Tufts’ new Central Energy Plant (CEP) is now up and running on Boston Avenue. It is projected to slash campus energy costs by about 20 percent while lighting, heating, and cooling university buildings in Medford and Somerville.
Syrian refugee children
Teaching Science—and Hope—in a Refugee Camp

The project seemed simple—create structures out of marshmallows and toothpicks, then test their stability on an earthquake simulator fashioned from ping pong balls and rubber bands. But when Ayman Halaseh, EG15, urged the children to “go bigger—make a building,” they stared at him blankly.

Illustration of a large lightbulb with faceless people on ladders working around it with batteries to power it
Crowdfunding by the Numbers
The Crowdfunding at Tufts website, crowdfund.tufts.edu, showcases the wide range of these projects, including some you might not have suspected were going on at the university.