‘Vigil’ by acclaimed author George Saunders kicks off the new Campus Reading Program
May 13, 2026
Earth’s sustainability challenges — from climate change and pollution to food and water insecurity — are emerging faster than ever. Moreover, these issues are intertwined, rarely materializing one at a time but rather reinforcing each other in ways that have begun to impact both daily life and our communities’ long-term resilience.
To help meet the moment, Northwestern has launched the Thriving Planet Institute (TPI) where researchers can work across disciplines and sectors to design solutions to problems regarding health and well-being, especially for people facing structural barriers and environmental burdens.
“As a collective of scientists, scholars and citizens of this planet, we understand that the quality of our air, water and land is inseparable from human health and well-being,” said Jennifer Dunn, director of TPI. “Yet the systems that shape how we design materials, grow food and build corporations and communities are still too often studied and managed in isolation. When that happens, promising ideas lose momentum, insights fail to cross disciplinary boundaries and solutions fall short of the world's complexity.”
The newest of Northwestern’s University Research Institutes and Centers (URICs), TPI engages with faculty, institutes, departments, schools and programs across the University to connect knowledge systems and expand impact, from fundamental science and engineering to health, policy, culture and practice.
To guide its initial work, TPI has set forth four priorities:
- Redesign chemical and material systems to reduce their harm to people and the environment
- Strengthen water and food security in communities facing growing risk
- Restore and enhance the ecosystem services that sustain human life
- Develop open data, modeling and decision-support tools that help communities act on better information
“Jennifer Dunn embodies Northwestern’s interdisciplinary spirit, with a deep appreciation for how collaboration across disciplines — engineering, medicine, social science, business, policy, humanities and beyond — can lead to meaningful solutions for some of the biggest problems facing our communities,” said Provost Kathleen Hagerty. “With her strong network of relationships across the University and determination to unite our researchers around shared goals, she is well-positioned to guide a new institute dedicated to addressing urgent threats to the health of the planet and its people.”
