Dear CEE Community and Friends,

I hope everyone is enjoying the last few weeks of summer.

This month's newsletter shares Professor Charles Harvey and former postdoc Kurt House's insight on carbon capture and sequestration technology in an op-ed for the New York Times. Professor Cathy Wu explains phantom traffic jams and how automated vehicles may be able to solve them, and we congratulate this month's award winners.

Also in this issue, we share Assistant Professor Michael Howland's new method of boosting wind farms' energy output. Research from postdoc Muchun Lui and Professor Benedetto Marelli offers a biodegradable alternative to some plastics. Professor Xuanhe Zhao's research into an ultrasound sticker providing a clear image of internal organs is highlighted, CEE researchers examine the role of marsh vegetation to maximize wetland restoration, and Professor Buehler's Lab reports a new method to create synthetic 3D spider webs.

This month's profile is on postdoc Johannes Kalliauer, whose interdisciplinary research in the CSHub is highlighted and lastly, we share details about the upcoming C.C. Mei Distinguished Speaker Series.

Sincerely,

Ali Jadbabaie

JR East Professor

Department Head, MIT Civil and Environmental Engineering

Core Faculty, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society

Prof. Charles Harvey and former postdoc Kurt House discuss the new climate bill's carbon capture and sequestration subsidies in an op-ed for the New York Times.

The hidden cause of traffic jams

NOVA PBS features Prof. Cathy Wu discussing phantom traffic jams, how they occur, and how automated vehicles may help solve them.

Markus Buehler selected as IACM 2022 awardee

Markus Buehler received the IAMC Fellows Award, as recognition of his distinguished record of research accomplishment and publication in areas of computational mechanics.

WITec Paper Award 2022

Hyun-Chae Loh PhD '21, Hee-Jeong Kim, and Professors Franz-Josef Ulm and Admir Masic were awarded the WITex Paper Award in Gold for their characterization of cement hydration kinetics. 

Colette Heald receives 2022 Capers and Marion McDonald Award

Colette Heald is this year's recipient of the Capers and Marion McDonald Award for Excellence in Mentoring and Advising. The award honors faculty members who have demonstrated a lasting commitment to the personal and professional development of others.

Prof. Michael Howland and colleagues have found that by modeling the conditions of an entire wind farm rather than individual turbines, they can squeeze more power out of existing installations.

Silk offers alternative to some plastics

MIT postdoc Muchun Lui and Prof. Benedetto Marelli are part of a team of scientists developing a biodegradable alternative to some microplastics.

MIT Engineers develop stickers that can see inside the body

"We believe we've opened a new era of wearable imaging: With a few patches on your body, you could see your internal organs," says Prof Xuanhe Zhao, the study's senior author.

MIT researchers examine role of marsh vegetation to maximize wetland restoration

A new study by visiting student Yuan Xu and Prof. Heidi Nepf published in Nature Communications describes how sediment retention within a marsh varies with vegetation density over a growing season.

Computational method to create synthetic 3D spider web structures

New research published in the Journal of Applied Physics from Prof. Markus Buehler's Lab, led by grad students Wei Lu and Zhenze Yang, reports a new computational method to create synthetic 3D spider webs using a combination of multiscale modeling, graph, and transformer neural networks.

Postdoctoral Spotlight: Johannes Kalliauer

Johannes Kalliauer, postdoc at the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub, combines civil engineering and theoretical physics through his work with DNA and urban flooding. Learn more about his interdisciplinary research in this month's featured spotlight.

C.C. Mei Distinguished Speaker Series

We are excited to welcome Pradeep Sharma, Alain Goriely, and Alan Needleman for the C.C. Mei Distinguished Speaker Series.

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

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