Civil and Environmental Engineering

In this image of Cambridge, Massachusetts, the colors represent which buildings could be retrofitted to obtain different percentages of total energy savings. Converting just red and orange buildings would achieve 40 percent of the total potential energy savings in the city from efficiency improvements. West Cambridge has a dividing line that shows efficient, dense housing next to a several homes t...

How to make cities more energy efficient

Retrofitting a small portion of buildings would have big impact on cities’ carbon emissions.

April 20, 2016

Bialoweiza Forest is one of the last and largest remaining parts of the immense primeval forest that once stretched across the European Plain.

Research sheds light on delicate forest biodiversity

Quantitative study of Poland's Bialowieza Forest highlights processes shaping species coexistence and potential impacts of deforestation.

April 11, 2016

QS World University Rankings rates MIT No. 1 in 12 subjects for 2016

MIT ranked within the top 5 globally for 19 of 42 subject areas.

April 8, 2016

MIT Assistant Professor Admir Masic (right), grad student Steve Palkovic (left) and Roberto Scalesse of Erresse Group explored Pompeii ruins last fall.

Seeking inspiration from ancient technologies

New fieldwork program in civil and environmental engineering takes students to Italy for a lesson in ancient infrastructure and materials.

April 6, 2016

April 12 symposium: Take an immersive, intellectual journey across campus

Beyond 2016: MIT’s Frontiers of the Future event offers a playful introduction to research at MIT.

April 5, 2016

The team was initially inspired by videos of chocolatiers making bonbons and other chocolate shells. Pedro Reis and his team wondered whether there was a way to precisely predict the final thickness of chocolate and other shells that start out as a liquid film.

How crispy is your bonbon?

New theory, inspired by chocolate coatings, predicts thickness of thin shells.

April 4, 2016

A presentation during the 2016 CEE Research Speed Dating Day event

Joining efforts to build a more sustainable future

Sixth Annual CEE Research Speed Dating showcases research to promote collaboration

March 17, 2016

Frank Perkins, professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering, dies at 82

Longtime professor and former dean for graduate education had lasting impacts on civil engineering and teaching at MIT.

March 14, 2016

Deputy Director Enoh T. Ebong welcomes a delegation of high-level Philippine Government officials at USTDA's headquarters.

Philippine USTDA delegates visit MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub

Delegates from the U.S. Trade and Development Agency's Global Procurement Initiative visited MIT to learn about innovative life cycle cost analysis models.

March 8, 2016

MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub principal investigators Franz-Josef Ulm and Roland Pellenq and research scientist Mehdi Akbarian run a pavement-vehicle interaction test that simulates a vehicle moving over pavement. The test determines excess fuel consumption induced by pavement material and structural properties.

Well-maintained roadways improve fuel efficiency

Research aims to encourage decision makers to think of infrastructure as part of the solution in a carbon constrained environment.

February 29, 2016

MIT grad student Alison Hoyt studies the carbon cycle of Borneo’s tropical peat swamp forests.

Stories from the swamp

Graduate student Alison Hoyt gets knee deep in the exploration of carbon cycling in the peat swamp forests of Borneo.

February 26, 2016

Graduate student Osama Mekhi Seidahmed in the Eltahir Research Group holds up larvae of the Dengue-carrying mosquito collected in a water bottle. Environmental management techniques used for related viruses like Dengue and malaria can inform approaches to the recent Zika outbreak.

3Q: Elfatih Eltahir on what malaria and Dengue can tell us about Zika

Environmental management approaches may be key in combating mosquito-borne infectious diseases.

February 23, 2016

MIT's Killian Court, with Great Dome in the background

Eleven MIT researchers win Sloan Research Fellowships

Faculty from eight MIT science and engineering departments among 126 selected from across the U.S. and Canada.

February 23, 2016

Terrascope students Nikita Consul (left) and Jaclyn Wilson building a pressure vessel to simulate a possible underground facility for sequestering atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Terrascope recognized by National Academy of Engineering

Freshman learning community recognized as an Exemplar in Engineering Ethics Education.

February 19, 2016

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering graduate student Anthony Carrasquillo (right) and freshman Judy Wang collected lignin from the coast, then experimented in the lab to see if light accelerates its degradation.

Opening research labs to freshmen fosters innovation and community

Mini-UROP pairs freshmen with graduate students and postdocs while broadening opportunities for enhanced learning, collaboration, and networking.