CEE News July 2021
Dear CEE Community and Friends,
 
I hope you are having an enjoyable and relaxing summer.

This month’s newsletter shares exciting new research from the labs of Professors Jesse Kroll, Benedetto Marelli and Tal Cohen. Professor Emeritus Eduardo Kausel is interviewed by BBC News about the Surfside building collapse and Professors Oral Buyukozturk, Markus Buehler along with CEE alumni receive prestigious awards.

We also share a story from MSRP alumna, Nathalie Thelemaque whose experience in the Plata lab inspired her PhD trajectory. And lastly, we feature a TED-Ed video about air quality with the science lesson created by Jesse Kroll and postdoc Amy Hrdina.


Sincerely,

Ali Jadbabaie
JR East Professor of Engineering
Department Head, MIT Civil and Environmental Engineering
Core Faculty, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society
NEWS
Eduardo Kausel talks with BBC News about the Surfside building collapse
In an interview with BBC World, Professor Emeritus Eduardo Kausel comments on what the Champlain Towers case means for those who work in civil engineering and construction, what clues are useful after the disaster and how the findings could be key for the future.
Read in Spanish or English
Prof. Oral Buyukozturk receives Hojjat Adeli Award for Innovation in Computing
Oral Buyukozturk and alumnus, James Long, PhD ’17, SM ’14 , awarded the Hojjat Adeli Award for Innovation in Computing.
Prof. Markus Buehler awarded 2021 Daniel C. Drucker Medal
Buehler to receive the 2021 Daniel C. Drucker Medal for his “contributions to the use of molecular mechanics and chemical principles to elucidate the mechanics of natural and bio-inspired materials.”
CEE alumna earns interdisciplinary Schmidt Science Fellowship
Fatima Hussain PhD ’20 was one of four MIT researchers honored with a Schmidt Science Fellowship to pursue new research into mucosal immunity.  .
RESEARCH
New approach could change how we track extreme air pollution events
In a new study, researchers in Jesse Kroll’s lab demonstrate an alternative approach for monitoring extreme air-quality events with the use of low-cost sensor (LCS) networks. Read more
Engineering seeds to resist drought 
New research out of Benedetto Marelli's lab devised a promising process for protecting seeds from the stress of water shortage during their crucial germination phase, and even providing the plants with extra nutrition at the same time.
Atomic-scale shockwaves go big
Postdoc, Jian Li is lead author in a new study with Prof. Tal Cohen and Chockalingam Senthilnathan that reports a proof-of-concept experiment that makes it possible to track atom by atom how a shockwave propagates. The research study, “Observation of ultra-slow shock waves in a tunable magnetic lattice,” published in Physical Review Letters was also selected as a Research Highlight in Nature Reviews Physics.  Read more
CEE PROFILES
Summer research program inspires PhD trajectory
Pursuing a doctoral degree wasn’t in Nathalie Thelemaque's future plans until she was an undergraduate participant in the MIT Summer Research Program (MSRP); working in the Plata lab.
FEATURED VIDEO
Do you know what’s in the air you breathe? Together, nitrogen, oxygen and argon make up 99.93% of our air. So what’s the other .07%?
‌
Prof. Jesse Kroll and postdoc Amy Hrdina
developed this 5 minute lesson in pollution with TED-Ed