During the fall 2026 semester, the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP) welcomed Alex Cabral as Assistant Professor of Environmental Health and Sociotechnical Systems, and Monica Rhodes as a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Visiting Scholar.
Alex shares her appointment with DUSP and the Institute of Data, Systems, and Society at MIT. She is the director of the SEED Lab, which works with communities to design, develop, and deploy sensing and data infrastructure for environmental health and social wellbeing.
Professor Holly Harriel will be Monica's faculty host at DUSP, where she will work with the Community Innovators Lab (CoLab) on new initiatives focused on climate change, HBCUs, and AI. During the 2026–2027 academic year, Monica plans to explore the following specific questions as part of her time at MIT:
- How immersive technologies can support more creative and engaging storytelling at historic sites;
- How sustainability and climate change are reshaping the stewardship of historic places;
- How emerging development pressures, including the expansion of data centers, are affecting historic neighborhoods, HBCUs, and Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities.
Welcome to MIT DUSP, both!
