J-WAFS Water and Food Seed Grant (Annual)
Seed Grant letters of interest were due 5:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, November 25, 2025. Please check back in the fall of 2026 for the next Seed Grant call.
J-WAFS seed grants support innovative MIT research that has the potential to have significant impact on water and food supply challenges for human need.
J-WAFS welcomes proposals spanning fundamental science, engineering and technology, supply chains, big data, business models, development efforts, economics, climate interactions and impact, urban design and infrastructure, and more. We invite proposals for projects that can effect meaningful, measurable, improvements to humankind’s need for sustainable supplies of water and food.
Seed grant proposals should be for new, innovative projects that are sufficiently distinct from prior research. We look for early-stage projects that can benefit from one or two years of funding in order to: (1) establish proof of concept or gather critical data that will position the project to qualify for other future sources of funding; or (2) have a clear and significant outcome without subsequent awards. Projects that are intended to have real-world impact are favored. Multidisciplinary projects and projects that have well defined regional or international reach are welcome. New collaborations including team members in different schools of MIT are encouraged, as are proposals from junior faculty. Relevant interactions with industry are also encouraged.
Each year, J-WAFS typically supports up to eight seed grants of up to $150,000, comprising up to $75,000 per year for one to two years, free of overhead charges, to be spent at MIT. Eligible proposals that further J-WAFS’ mission are encouraged from all MIT schools and departments.
MIT researchers submitting proposals can create an account on the proposal submission site to begin the submission process.
Eligibility: Proposals are sought from MIT principal investigators from all departments, labs, and centers of MIT. The principal investigator submitting the proposal must be an MIT professor or a member of the research staff with principal investigator privileges (generally senior or principal research scientist, or senior or principal engineer). PIs may participate on up to two submissions per year. Previous and current J-WAFS PIs are eligible.
*** Note that our seed grant proposal process has changed. We now require an initial letter of interest. Full proposals will be welcome by invitation based on review of the LOIs. ***
This year's timeline is as follows:
Thursday, September 25, 2025: J-WAFS RFP announced
Friday, October 17, 2025: WizeHive online submission portal open for letters of interest
Tuesday, November 25, 2025: Letters of interest due (by 5 pm)
By December 19, 2025: Invitations to submit full proposal
Friday, January 30, 2026: Full proposals (including budget template) due (by 5 pm)
Spring, 2026: Announcement of funded projects
Tuesday, September 1, 2026: Start of funded projects
Questions? Contact Carolyn Blais Pinter, J-WAFS senior communications and program manager, at cblais@mit.edu
Projects
87 results
Bench-top NMR with dynamic nuclear polarization for ultra-sensitive PFAS detection
Timothy Swager, Department of Chemistry
Robert Guy Griffin
Toward nitrogen-fixing crops: Improving nitrogenase activity in non-diazotrophic hosts
Daniel Suess, Department of Chemistry
Stable, low-cost engineered proteins as biofungicides
Hadley D. Sikes, Department of Chemical Engineering
Food-safe, wireless RFID sensor on smart packaging for pH monitoring in the cold chain
Sanjay Sarma, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Fluorine-free materials to trap and destroy PFAS
Jeremiah Johnson, Department of Chemistry
Toward sustainable food protein manufacturing
Peter Dedon, Department of Biological Engineering
Optimal subsidy design: Application to food assistance programs
Ali Aouad, MIT Sloan School of Management
Global access to safe drinking water in resource-constrained and water scarce areas
Xuanhe Zhao, Department of Mechanical Engineering
AI enabled spectral fingerprinting of pathogens for rapid food and water screening
Loza Tadesse, Department of Mechanical Engineering
High-efficiency atmospheric water harvesting enabled by vibrational actuation
Svetlana Boriskina, Mechanical Engineering Department
Empowering Indigenous communities: A framework for climate resilience and migration planning in La Guajira, Colombia
Sarah Williams, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Eran Ben - Joseph, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Gabriella Carolini, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Janelle Knox-Hayes, Department of Urban Studies & Planning
National crop type maps of India using deep learning and street view imagery
Sherrie Wang, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Institute of Data, Systems, and Society
Protecting drinking water from widespread organic contaminants using engineered soil bacteria
Christopher Voigt, Department of Biological Engineering
Kate Brown, Program in Science, Technology, and Society
Victoria Chen, Biological Engineering Department
Food security in Africa under a changing climate – Navigating the energy and agricultural transition to net zero
Jennifer Morris, MIT Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy, MIT Energy Initiative
Adam Schlosser, MIT Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy
Kenneth Strzepek, MIT Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy, J-WAFS
Predictive activity coefficient and diffusion models for transport in multicomponent brines
John H. Lienhard V
Denitrifying capsules to clean water sources
Andrew Babbin, Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences
Advancing technology development to improve microbiome processes for controlling harmful bacteria blooms in aquaculture algae feed production
Michael Triantafyllou, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Otto X. Cordero, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Robert Vincent, Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT Sea Grant
Persistent monitoring of nitrogen waste products in the environment
Rajeev Ram, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Development of transduction methods for the detection of arsenic in water
Alexander Radosevich, Department of Chemistry
Timothy Swager, Department of Chemistry
Nanoscale materials for removal of “forever chemicals”
Carlos Portela, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Ariel Furst, Department of Chemical Engineering
Chemo-electrophilic interfaces for bacterial disinfection in wastewater
Kripa Varanasi, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Angela Belcher, Department of Biological Engineering
Using secondary metabolites to manage legacy phosphorus
Darcy McRose, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Multiplexed motion-amplified microbead sensors for rapid measurement and monitoring of trace contaminants in water
Rohit Karnik, Department of Mechanical Engineering
PFAS test kits based on 2D conductive metal-organic frameworks
Aristide Gumyusenge, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Optimizing cereal crop plant architecture during an era of high atmospheric CO2
David L. Des Marais, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Automated counting of migrating salmon for conservation and fisheries management in the Pacific Northwest
Sara Beery, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Faculty of AI and Decision Making, Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
In silico discovery of metal-organic frameworks for selective ion separation
Heather J. Kulik, Department of Chemical Engineering
Converging trends in climate change, mining, and agriculture: Analysis of hydrosocial relations over desalination and glaciers in Chile
John E. Fernández, Department of Architecture
Scott D. Odell, MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative
High-resolution plant water stress monitoring
César Terrer, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Cloud-based data applications for streamlining natural resource management
Michael Triantafyllou, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Liquid-infused membranes to separate emulsified oils from water
Gregory C. Rutledge, Department of Chemical Engineering
Enzymatic biomaterials for PFAS degradation
Ariel Furst, Department of Chemical Engineering
Solar photomolecular desalination
Gang Chen, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Impact of near-term climate change on water availability and food productivity in Africa
Elfatih Eltahir, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Engineered microbial cocultures to detect and degrade organophosphates
Ariel Furst, Department of Chemical Engineering
A new approach to enhance genetic diversity to improve crop breeding
Mary Gehring, Department of Biology, Whitehead Institute
On-site analysis of foodborne pathogens using density-shift immunomagnetic separation and culture
Rohit Karnik, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Pratik Shah, MIT Media Lab
Precise fish vaccine injection using silk-based biomaterials
Benedetto Marelli, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Improving smallholder farmers’ welfare with AI-driven technologies
Y. Karen Zheng, Sloan School of Management
A sliding vane energy recovery device for photovoltaic-powered brackish water reverse osmosis desalination
Amos Winter, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Hybrid evaporative and radiative cooling as a passive low-cost high-performance solution for food shelf-life extension
Jeffrey C. Grossman, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Evelyn Wang, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Gang Chen, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Using siderophore-conjugated microcins to combat foodborne pathogens
Elizabeth M. Nolan, Department of Chemistry
Smart porous hydrogels for atmospheric water harvesting
Xuanhe Zhao, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Gang Chen, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Enhancing water affordability for vulnerable urban households in the United States
Gabriella Carolini, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Lawrence Susskind, Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Solving the phosphite bottleneck for next generation agriculture and clean water
Christopher C. Cummins, Department of Chemistry
Data-driven development of probiotics for shrimp aquaculture in Ecuador
Otto X. Cordero, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Reduction of risk from water- and food-borne N-nitrosamines by induction of the Nrf2 chemo-protective pathway in mammals
John Essigmann, Center for Environmental Health Science, Department of Biological Engineering
Developing flexible estimates of agricultural supply functions for answering demand-side agricultural questions
Dave Donaldson, Department of Economics
Securing the food supply with sustainable packaging
Bradley Olsen, Department of Chemical Engineering, Alexander and I. Michael Kasser (1960) Professor, Graduate Admissions Co-Chair
Evaporative cooling technologies for fruit and vegetable preservation in Kenya
Daniel Frey, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Leon Glicksman, Department of Architecture
Eric Verploegen
Understanding effects of intermittent flow on drinking water quality
Andrew J. Whittle, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Designing purely weather-contingent crop insurance with personalized coverage to improve farmers’ investments in their crops for higher yields
Robert M. Townsend, Department of Economics
Electrocatalytic ammonia synthesis for distributed agriculture
Yogesh Surendranath, Department of Chemistry
Microparticle systems for the removal of organic micropollutants
Patrick Doyle, Department of Chemical Engineering
Learning food and water contaminants using wireless signals
Fadel Adib, Program in Media Arts and Sciences, MIT Media Lab
Designing supply chain platforms for smallholders in Indonesia
Joann de Zegher, Sloan School of Management