CEE News May 2021
Dear CEE Community and Friends,
 
This month’s newsletter highlights a diverse set of recent scientific achievements. We share new research from the molecular scale in Markus Buehler’s lab and efforts in creating sustainable cement with new applications from the Concrete Sustainability Hub. CEE PhD student, Sidhant Pai is profiled in a feature story about his work on atmospheric chemistry models that may help policymakers improve air quality in their region. Andrew Whittle discusses climate change and geotechnical research in our Faculty Seminar series, and last but not least, congratulations to Desirée Plata for receiving the 2021 Edgerton Faculty Award!

 
Sincerely,

Ali Jadbabaie
JR East Professor of Engineering
Department Head, MIT Civil and Environmental Engineering
Core Faculty, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society
NEWS
Desirée Plata receives Edgerton Faculty Award
Associate Professor Desirée Plata received the 2021 Edgerton Faculty Award, the highest honor bestowed to junior faculty at MIT. Plata along with MIT Professor Justin Steil were recognized for their excellence in leadership, service and impactful work tackling environmental and social justice issues. Read more
Ali Jadbabaie to be honored with 2021 HSCC Test-of-Time Award
CEE Department Head, Ali Jadbabaie will receive the HSCC Test-of-Time Award for his research that presents a novel methodology for safety verification of hybrid systems at the Hybrid Systems: Computation and Control (HSCC) conference. The award recognizes research published at the conference over 10 years ago that has proven to be the most visionary and impactful, leading to new directions of research or new applications being brought into the hybrid systems research community. View the paper
Why ending pandemic lockdowns created new shortages of ketchup and everything else
Prof. Yossi Sheffi speaks with CNN about how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected supply chains, impacting the supply of ketchup packets and causing delays in computer chips. Read more
The frequencies of a vibrating spider web have been made into music
Markus Buehler’s research team captures the attention of media after presenting their new audio-visual virtual reality research converting a spider web’s vibrations to sounds that humans can hear at the spring American Chemical Society conference. Listen to the audio recording in New Scientist. Read more
RESEARCH
AI tool calculates materials’ stress and strain based on photos
For centuries, engineers have relied on physical laws — developed by Newton and others — to understand the stresses and strains on the materials they work with. Now, a new machine-learning technique developed out of Markus Buehler’s lab uses an image of the material’s internal structure to estimate the stresses and strains acting on the material. Read more
Electrifying cement with nanocarbon black
What if cement could conduct electricity, generate heat and store energy? Researchers in the Concrete Sustainability Hub promise to make concrete more sustainable, allowing the use of concrete for a variety of new applications. Read more
New research examines the fracture mechanisms of graphene
Molecular dynamics offers a way to study fractures but is computationally expensive with limitations of scalability. To explore an alternative method, Markus Buehler’s Laboratory for Atomistic and Molecular Mechanics (LAMM) uses a machine learning model to predict the fracture evolution of graphene, the strongest material in the world. Read more
CEE PROFILES
Tackling air pollution in India and the developing world
CEE PhD student Sidhant Pai works on atmospheric chemistry models that may help policymakers improve air quality in their region under the guidance of Professor Colette Heald. Read more
SEMINAR TALKS
Learn more about CEE research. Listen to the recorded talks by faculty members from our Faculty Seminar Series hosted by Prof. Josephine Carstensen at your own leisure. 
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Professor Andrew Whittle: Climate Change and Geotechnical Research Opportunities