Announcing the 2026 YPS Grant Recipients: 19 Projects Turning Discovery into Action
Image by Mike Helfenbein for YaleNews
This year’s funded projects reflect the breadth of planetary solutions work across Yale, bringing together expertise from fields including environmental science, engineering, public health, economics, social science, architecture, policy, music, and Indigenous studies. The projects address interconnected challenges such as climate mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity and ecosystem restoration, water and air quality, sustainable materials and energy systems, equitable housing, public health, and community resilience.
In addition, this year, YPS and Yale Ventures collaborated to launch the Planetary Solutions Impact Accelerator (PSIA), which will provide commercialization support and investor/partner connections for project teams aiming to scale technologies to mitigate climate change and address other planetary challenges. Commercialization proposals were pitched live to an external committee of seven commercialization experts who assessed the proposals for technical, commercial, and environmental impact potential.
The 2026 grants were made possible through the generous support of the Three Cairns Climate Impact Innovation Fund, the Natural Carbon Solutions Fund, the Simon Bates Catalyst Fund, the Gordon Data and Environmental Sciences Research Grants, the Birnbaum-Harford Planetary Solutions Translation Fund, and Eleanor and Chad Laurans, along with co-funding from the Office of the Provost AI Initiatives, the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture (YCNCC), the Tobin Center for Economic Policy, and the Yale Office of International Affairs (OIA). These investments accelerate near-term, scalable, and transformative planetary solutions.
YPS awards three levels of grants:
- Initiation Grants are projects of up to $25,000 to spark new ideas
- Exploration Grants are projects of up to $100,000 to lay the groundwork for implementation
- Constellation Grants are projects of up to $250,000 over 2 years to transform knowledge into action, including through commercialization
Read more about the 2026 awardees below.
Initiation Grants
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Measuring Past Acidification of the Long Island Sound for a Sustainable Future
The Long Island Sound, like many estuaries, has a long history of human use, degradation, and management.
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Mitigating Impacts of Climate Extremes on Species Regeneration for Indigenous Traditional Housing in the Amazon
Extreme weather events, intensifying fire regimes, and forest loss threaten Indigenous livelihoods in southeast Amazonia.
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Planetary Health Leadership Conference: Launching an Interdisciplinary Platform for Nursing-Centered Climate and Health Action
Planetary challenges demand new forms of leadership within health systems.
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PurpleAir and the Sound of the City
Addressing the invisibility of urban air pollution and its unequal impacts.
Exploration Grants
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Deep Waters
Addressing the critical challenge of global sustainable water resource allocation, with emphasis on water-stressed regions.
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Development of More Practical First-Row Transition Metal Catalysts for Carbon Dioxide Hydrogenation to Formic Acid
A more practical and sustainable system for CO2 hydrogenation to formic acid, a commercially important material.
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Field-Validated Carbon Measurement in Meghalaya’s Payments for Ecosystem Services Program
Generating evidence to guide how conservation programs are priced, verified, and scaled in biodiverse tropical settings.
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HomeForward: Growing Sustainable Affordable Housing
Developing scalable and replicable housing solutions that address affordability, health, climate, and wealth-building in cities around the country.
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Improving Energy Release from Anthracene Dimers for Solar-Powered Heat Batteries
Fine-tuning toward practical molecular solar thermal energy storage.
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Leveraging Novel Remote Sensors and Models to Support Freshwater Biodiversity Monitoring and Management in Connecticut and the US
Demonstrating the use of new sensor technologies and AI-supported modelling for monitoring lake biodiversity at scale.
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Lignin Upgrading to Jet-Range Aromatics by Electrified Pulse Heating
This project will upcycle lignin into bio-based aviation fuel with a proposed novel electrified pulse heating approach.
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New Haven Environmental History Project: from Implementation to Replication
The New Haven Environmental History Project turns the history of the local built and natural environment into usable curricular materials.
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Oceanic Carbon Capture Using Hydrogen Looping: Bridging Electrochemical Engineering with Earth System Modeling
Removing CO2 from seawater has the potential to enhance atmospheric CO2 uptake at gigaton scales and thereby mitigate climate change.
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Reimagining the Role of Business in Society: Learning from Organizations that Have Sustained an Authentic Beyond-Profit Purpose Over Time
To address the climate crisis, for-profit firms must adopt and sustain a purpose beyond the pursuit of profit.
Constellation Grants
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Carbon-Negative PFAS Remediation on Agricultural Lands
This project will demonstrate a remediation framework that embeds carbon dioxide removal into PFAS cleanup.
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CORE Timber: Robotically Fabricated Structures from Regeneratively Managed, Mixed-Species Forests
Linking forest restoration in the northeastern United States with decarbonized building systems.
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Harnessing Natural Regeneration for Large-Scale Forest Restoration in Tropical Landscapes
This project seeks to better understand how naturally regenerating seedlings can be harnessed to meet restoration goals more effectively.
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Phage Therapy as a Service to Reduce Disease Outbreaks in Aquaculture
Working with shrimp producers and government regulators in Ecuador to establish a scalable, public-benefit model for sustainable aquaculture.
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Plasmon-Enhanced Catalytic PFAS Treatment via Reductive Defluorination
The project will deliver a treatment technology that supports long-term protection of water resources, ecosystems, and human health.
