"Civil and Environmental Engineering at
MIT"
is published quarterly by the
Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Massachusetts Institute of
Technology,
Bldg. 1-383, 77 Mass. Ave., Cambridge, MA 02139
Editor: Debbie Levey
(617)253-7101
levey@mit.edu
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Note from the Department head
Reminiscing and Looking Ahead
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Rafael Bras, CEE Dept. head
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This will be, most likely, my next to last opportunity to address
you as Department head. As some of you know, I announced last fall that I
will step down this summer. A search for my replacement is under way and I
hope to have the opportunity to introduce her (or him) in the near future.
I am sure that the search committee, headed by Prof. Sallie (Penny)
Chisholm would love to hear from you.
I can honestly say that it's been an honor and very fulfilling
experience to lead this Department. I certainly have not been bored over
the last nine years! I would do it all again in a second, but it is time to
go. Not all I wanted to accomplish is done but together we have completed
an ambitious agenda. I say together because the friends and alumni/ae of
this Department have been a key to all the successes we have enjoyed over
my tenure. I must say that writing this column will be one of the
activities I will miss the most. I enjoy sharing my thoughts with you and
get a tremendous thrill every time I hear from one of you in response to my
comments.
Our Agenda was first articulated in our 1993 Strategic Plan, and
refined in its 1996 and 1999 revisions. Not all has been smooth but the
Department has gone through a significant and aggressive evolution. The
Visiting Committee, an external review committee, has once again endorsed
this evolution. The report of their visit last November appears in this
issue. Let me review some of the main accomplishments of the last nine
years.
The faculty was renewed with 14 new hires. All are extraordinary
individuals who have already changed the Department and the profession.
Their accomplishments are unsurpassed anywhere. The Department clearly
defined its themes and realm of operation in the natural and built
environments and in the information and systems realm. The environmental
focus is finally beginning to impact the whole Department. The organization
around the themes, in place since 1996, has worked well and moved us closer
to the ideal interdisciplinary approach to problems.
We took a bold new
approach to professional education, advocating the Master as the first
professional degree and implementing the enormously successful Master of
Engineering program that has changed how we think of graduate and
undergraduate education. It is a model now followed or being studied by
many other universities. Undergraduate degrees were completely redesigned,
leading to Civil Engineering and Environmental Engineering degrees that
align with our new strategies and philosophy of education.
For the first
time in recent history faculty salaries are fully covered during the nine
month academic year. More senior and junior faculty enjoys endowed chairs
than ever. We have more than doubled such appointments, and 18 faculty
enjoy endowed professorships at this time. Resource development, with our
help, has been organized and successfully implemented.
Over 5 million
dollars have been added to the Department endowment. Slowly but surely we
have been improving the physical infrastructure, using every possible means
and strategy to improve space, a lot with the help of the administration.
Building 1 space is better. Services, like the new computer clusters and
local area network, improved. In a few weeks building 1 will be the first
MIT building completely wired for Internet 2 communications. We have been
able to keep up with laboratory needs and even improve them in several
cases.
Not all worked out as I expected, though. We remain separated in
two aging buildings. We still have more work to do to resolve tensions that
flared at the creation of the Engineering Systems Division. I am confident
that most will be resolved. Despite extraordinary efforts by all, our
undergraduate enrollment remains below what we all desire and work so hard
to achieve. Equally frustrating is the universal, relative, lack of
enthusiasm of US citizens towards doctoral degrees. Even more frustrating
to me is our inability to recruit a significant number of minorities to
graduate school. Our record and that of the nation is disgraceful. At the
professoriate level the record is even worse. At least we have succeeded in
attracting women to all our programs and have made a dent at hiring women
to faculty positions. I feel good, but not satisfied, with our progress in
this dimension.
All said and done, the last nine years have been good to CEE. We
have the opportunity to continue to capitalize on the success of last
year's Millennium Colloquium on the Future of Civil and Environmental
Engineering. The recently announced MIT-Prentice Hall Book Series on Civil
and Environmental Engineering (another outcome of our planning effort, see
article in this issue) will also provide additional means to continue our
leadership of the profession by educating the best the world has to offer.
Again, I hope to talk to you one more time. In the meantime, I
invite you to come and visit during June graduation ceremonies and enjoy
Alumni Days.
Rafael Bras
CEE Dept. head
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