ABOUT THE MILLENNIUM FELLOWSHIP - CLASS OF 2025
United Nations Academic Impact and MCN are proud to partner on the Millennium Fellowship. This year, 60,000+ young leaders applied to join the Class of 2025 on 7,000+ campuses across 170 nations. 290+ campuses worldwide (less than 5%) were selected to host the 4,500+ Millennium Fellows.
UNITED NATIONS ACADEMIC IMPACT AND MCN PROUDLY PRESENT AISHA AFTAB, A MILLENNIUM FELLOW FOR THE CLASS OF 2025.
University of Toronto | Toronto, Canada | Advancing SDG 13, SDG 11 & UNAI 9
" Technology and leadership drive my vision for meaningful change. Through artificial intelligence, I aim to develop innovative solutions for climate justice and environmental sustainability. Being a Millennium Fellow excites me because it offers a collaborative platform to apply my technical skills and leadership experience toward projects that align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. I look forward to turning ideas into tangible social impact while learning from a global network of change makers. "
Millennium Fellowship Project: AICA-CAH: AI for Campus Air Health
AI for Climate Action – Campus Air Health (AICA-CAH) is a student-led initiative focused on improving air-quality awareness and health outcomes on university campuses. The project uses openly available environmental datasets and a lightweight machine-learning model to predict next-day PM2.5 pollution levels around the University of Toronto.
The goal is to make air-quality information accessible, actionable, and personalized for students. The project integrates:
A forecasting model (Random Forest + time-series features) trained on historical PM2.5 data.
A public-facing web dashboard built with Streamlit, showing predictions, trends, and visual insights.
Micro-nudges for health, such as recommending the best times to jog outdoors, suggesting indoor routes, or alerting students when pollution is high.
Environmental literacy workshops that teach students how to understand AQI, reduce exposure, and connect environmental data to personal health.
Sensor-based campus monitoring (Phase 2) using Arduino-based PM sensors to compare model predictions with real-time measurements.
AICA-CAH empowers students with data-driven insights, combines climate action with health protection, and builds campus-wide awareness about air pollution — one of the world’s fastest-growing public health risks.
About the Millennium Fellow
Aisha Aftab was born in India, grew up in Saudi Arabia, and is currently an undergraduate student in Canada. Witnessing the impacts of climate change and environmental pollution firsthand inspired her to take action. With a passion for artificial intelligence, Aisha seeks to develop innovative, tech-driven solutions to address environmental and climate challenges. She has demonstrated leadership throughout her journey, serving as Head Girl in school and as a project manager at the University of Toronto, and continues to combine her technical skills and leadership experience to drive meaningful social and environmental impact.
