Dear CEE Community and Friends,

I hope your new year is off to a good start.

This month’s newsletter highlights an exhibit created by Prof. Lydia Bourouiba and artist Argha Manna, aiming to teach the public about the history of infectious diseases through comics. We highlight the personal and professional relationships formed through the CEE Rising Stars Workshop, and MIT News looks back on their most popular stories from 2023, including research from two CEE professors. We share a new book co-authored by Prof. Herbert Einstein titled Tunnel Design Methods. We congratulate Prof. Cathy Wu on being elected to the IEEE Intelligent Transportation System Society Board of Governors and Prof. Tal Cohen on receiving the Eshelby Mechanics Award for Young Faculty.

Also in this issue, new research from Prof. Josephine Carstensen facilitates the reuse of construction elements, and Prof. Heidi Nepf and researcher Isabella Schalko investigates how the intentional placement of logs in rivers could be used to mitigate the clogging of gravel beds by fine sediment. Lastly, we share a panel recording from the 2024 Transportation Research Board meeting featuring Prof. Franz-Josef Ulm and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.

Sincerely,

Ali Jadbabaie

JR East Professor

Department Head, MIT Civil and Environmental Engineering

Core Faculty, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society

Prof. Lydia Bourouiba and artist Argha Manna take readers through a series of discoveries in infectious disease.

Workshop at MIT forms friendships and opportunities

Participants from the 2021 CEE Rising Stars found support in the personal and professional relationships they formed at the MIT networking and career workshop.

MIT's top research stories of 2023

MIT News looked back at some of their most popular stories from 2023, including research from CEE Professors Admir Masic and Franz-Josef Ulm.

Tunnel Design Methods co-authored by Prof. Herbert Einstein

Tunnel Design Methods, written by Antonio Bobet and Prof. Herbert Einstein, covers analytical, numerical, and empirical methods for the design of tunnels in soil and in rock. The material is intended for design engineers looking for detailed methods, for graduate students who are interested in tunnelling, and for researchers working on various aspects of ground-support interaction under static and seismic loading.

Prof. Wu elected to the IEEE Intelligent Transportation System Society Board of Governors

Prof. Cathy Wu has been elected to the IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Society’s (ITSS) Board of Governors. The mission of the IEEE ITSS is to advance theoretical, experimental, and operational aspects of Electrical Engineering and Information Technologies as applied to intelligent transportation systems.

Prof. Cohen selected to receive Eshelby Mechanics Award for Young Faculty

Prof. Tal Cohen has been selected to receive the Eshelby Mechanics Award for Young Faculty. The award is given annually to rapidly emerging junior faculty who exemplify the creative use and development of mechanics.

An automated design framework developed by Prof. Josephine Carstensen, lecturer Vittoria Laghi, and colleagues facilitates the reuse of construction elements, reducing waste and carbon footprint.

Flow and Turbulence Due To Wood Contribute to Declogging of Gravel Bed

Fish habitat and spawning grounds in rivers are degraded when fine sediment clogs the pore spaces within the gravel bed. A new study by Prof. Heidi Nepf and researcher Isabella Schalko investigates how the intentional placement of large wood (logs) in rivers could be used to mitigate the clogging of gravel beds by fine sediment. 

2024 TRB Annual Meeting New Materials for Infrastructure: Reinventing the Roadway, Runway, & Railway

Prof. Franz-Josef Ulm joined Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg on a panel at the 2024 Transportation Research Board meeting. The panel was part of a workshop led by the U.S. Department of Transportation titled "New Materials for Infrastucture: Reinventing the Roadway, Runway, & Railway."

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and Environmental Engineering

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