Dear CEE Community and Friends,

This month we congratulate Prof. Admir Masic on being granted tenure and highlight a five-year research agreement between CEE professors and Aizawa Concrete in Japan. We congratulate graduate students Audrey Parker and Isabella Stewart on being awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowships, Prof. César Terrer on receiving NSF CAREER Award, and graduate student Zane Schemmer who was selected as a 2024 Morningside Academy of Design Fellow. We share a TEDx Talk delivered by CEE senior Runako Gentles, who is advocating for sustainable development.

Our spotlights this month feature Katherine Reisig and Joy Domingo-Kame’enui, who will be receiving their bachelor’s degrees from CEE this week. Lastly, we share a video recording of a Distinguished Speaker Series talk with Prof. Oded Shoseyov from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and we remember Professor Emeritus Jerome Connor, who passed away on March 31.

Sincerely,

Ali Jadbabaie

JR East Professor

Department Head, MIT Civil and Environmental Engineering

Core Faculty, Institute for Data, Systems, and Society

CEE is pleased to announce the promotion of Professor Admir Masic to Associate Professor with Tenure effective July 1, 2024. Masic’s work explores the ancient materials of the past to create a more sustainable future. His research focuses on the science-enabled engineering of sustainable materials for large scale infrastructure innovation.

MIT conductive concrete consortium cements five-year research agreement with Japanese industry

The MIT EC^3 Hub, an outgrowth of the MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub led by Professors Admir Masic and Franz-Josef Ulm, will develop multifunctional concrete applications for infrastructure.

CEE students awarded NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

Audrey Parker and Isabella Stewart have been named fellows of the prestigious 2024 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program to support their continued research in civil and environmental engineering.

Prof. César Terrer receives NSF CAREER Award

Prof. César Terrer has been selected to receive a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF), its most prestigious honor for junior faculty members. This grant will support Terrer’s research exploring the historical loss of soil carbon due to ecosystem degradation and its role in exacerbating climate change.

CEE graduate student selected as 2024 Morningside Academy of Design Fellow

Zane Schemmer PhD ’27 has been named a 2024 Morningside Academy for Design Fellow. As a graduate student in the Carstensen Lab, his research aims to minimize the carbon footprint of the built environment by designing efficient structures that consider the availability of local materials.

Senior Runako Gentles delivered a TEDx Talk advocating for sustainable development to be integrated into core curriculums at institutions like MIT, in hopes of bridging the gap between innovation and sustainability.

Undergraduate Spotlight: Katherine Reisig

Katherine Reisig from Scottsbluff, Nebraska will receive her bachelor’s degree in civil and environmental engineering this month. After graduation, she is planning on completing a 6-week MISTI Italy project on coastal preservation and restoration before heading to Colorado to work on environmental conservation in the fall.

Undergraduate Spotlight: Joy Domingo-Kame’enui

Joy Domingo-Kame’enui will receive her bachelor’s degree in civil and environmental engineering this month. She plans to continue her SuperUROP research through an MEng before returning to her home of Hawaii to work in the civil and environmental engineering industry.

Speaker Oded Shoseyov gave a talk on “The Plant Age: Materials for the Future.” Prof. Oded Shoseyov is a Professor of Protein Engineering and Nanobiotechnology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Jerome Connor

Jerome J. Connor ’53, SM ’54, ScD ’59, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and a member of the MIT faculty since 1959, passed away on March 31. Connor was a prolific scholar and highly respected mentor to several generations of students, many of whom now hold notable positions in academia and industry around the world.

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