Dear CEE Community and Friends,

I hope you are having an enjoyable and relaxing summer. 

July’s newsletter shares new research from the Cordero lab and the Concrete Sustainability Hub. Professor David-Simchi Levi’s data science research is highlighted in MIT News for helping companies identify and respond to supply chain risks in addition to being included in the 2022 Economic Report of the President. Prof. Elfatih Eltahir explains how climate change is affecting extreme heat for the MIT Climate Portal. We also congratulate three CEE faculty members who were granted tenure and two PhD students who received fellowships from the U.S. Departments of Energy and Defense.  

Lastly, we share a staff spotlight about CEE Excellence award recipient, Lili Zhu and details about the 2nd annual Fluids and Health conference chaired by Prof. Lydia Bourouiba taking place next month. 

Sincerely,

Ali Jadbabaie

JR East Professor

Department Head, MIT Civil and Environmental Engineering

Core Faculty, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society

“We are not focusing on the state of the supply chain right now, but what may happen 6 to 8 weeks from now," says Prof. David Simchi-Levi whose supply chain research influenced public policy and is used by companies to become more resilient.

Three faculty members granted tenure

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering is pleased to announce that Otto Cordero, Caitlin Mueller, and Desiree Plata have been granted tenure by MIT effective July 1, 2022. 

How climate change is affecting extreme heat

Learn about how climate change is affecting extreme heat, heat waves and humidity, and what this heat means for the health of humans and the planet with Prof. Elfatih Eltahir on the MIT Climate Portal.

MIT CEE PhD students selected for prestigious fellowships

Two graduate students in the MIT Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering were selected for highly competitive and prestigious graduate fellowships from the U.S. Department of Defense and Department of Energy.

Prof. Otto Cordero and colleagues reveal how an algae-eating bacterium solves an environmental engineering challenge.

Hurricane-resistant construction may be undervalued by billions of dollars annually

Failing to consider neighborhood texture in hurricane-related wind loss models may undervalue stronger construction by over 80 percent, according to a new study by grad student and CSHub research assistant, Ipek Bensu Manav. 

Lili Zhu was awarded this year’s CEE Excellence Award in May for her outstanding contributions to the CEE community. Learn more about her in this month’s featured spotlight.

2022 Fluids and Health Conference

The 2nd Fluids and Health Conference will take place from August 14-19 at Mt. Holyoke College as a new Gordon Research Conference. This year's conference is focused on Contamination and Infectious Disease Transmission From the Lens of Fluid Physics and Across Scales and is led by Prof. L. Bourouiba.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Civil 

and Environmental Engineering

77 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 1-290 Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 

(617) 253-7101

CEE.MIT.EDU