Stone Living Lab Hosts Conference on Nature-based Solutions for Resilience in Urban Settings
The two-day conference, held April 16-18 in the Campus Center Ballroom, featured keynote presentations from Dr. Katherine Dafforn, co-director of the Stone Living Lab and UMass Boston distinguished professor of climate resilience; Dr. Atyia Martin, CEO and founder of All Aces, Inc.; and Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll.
The Stone Living Lab is an innovative and collaborative initiative for testing and scaling up nature-based approaches to climate adaptation, coastal resilience and ecological restoration in Boston. The lab is a partnership between UMass Boston’s School for the Environment and Boston Harbor Now, the City of Boston, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, the National Park Service, and the James M. and Cathleen D. Stone Foundation that engages scientists and the community in research, education, and the promotion of equity.
The conference brought together 300 local, regional, and select national and international researchers, municipal leaders, and practitioners to present on and learn from innovations in nature based approaches for protecting communities from climate-related natural disasters.
Presentation topics included marine data for coastal resilience, social resilience is climate resilience, design and implementation case studies, preparing communities and learning and implementing with communities, reimagining what is possible, and innovation in the face of rapid change.
The next bi-annual conference is planned for April 2027.
Latest University News
- In Convocation Keynote, University of Massachusetts General Counsel David Lowy Calls for Civil DiscourseFollowing a prestigious judicial career, the Honorable David Lowy (retired) now serves as the General Counsel for the University of Massachusetts. During the 2025 UMass Boston convocation ceremony, Lowy encouraged the incoming class to be open to hearing new ideas, because they will be the ones to reinvent civil debate.
- UMass Boston Holds Grand Opening for New Coffee Shop in the ISC CaféUMass Boston celebrated its new partnership with Recreo Coffee at a ribbon-cutting ceremony last week.
- Chancellor Calls for Resilience and Responsibility at Fall ConvocationAt UMass Boston’s 2025 Fall Convocation, Chancellor Marcelo Suárez-Orozco urged the university community to meet today’s challenges with resolve, resilience, and responsibility—calling resilience not just a virtue, but “an imperative.”
- UMass Boston’s Emerging Leaders Program Celebrates Annual ShowcaseThe Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) and members of the UMass Boston community gathered to celebrate the graduation of the 2025 cohort and showcase their innovative solutions to pressing regional challenges.
- UMass Boston’s Institute for Community Inclusion Welcomes Fall 2025 East African Disability Rights Professional FellowsThe Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) is excited to welcome 10 East African disability rights leaders to Boston on Wednesday, September 10, as part of its Professional Fellows Program (PFP). This year’s cohort includes three Fellows from Kenya, three Fellows from Tanzania, and four Fellows from Uganda.
- With Harp and Piano, Chaerin Kim Sets New RecordsOn May 18, on a stage in Venezuela, Chaerin Kim stepped out to perform her eighth curtain call of the evening, as the audience gave a standing ovation. A multi-instrumentalist, composer, and conductor, she had just set a new world record by being the first soloist to play concertos on both harp and piano, accompanied by an orchestra, premiering her own composition in the same concert.
