Current Research

Civil & Environmental Engineering: Course 1

UROP in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering offers the opportunity to work directly with faculty and research staff on a broad range of current topics in environmental, water resources, structural, geotechnical, and transportation engineering. Many studies involve significant social, economic, and legal factors; many involve computers, experimental laboratory work, or field work. Current environmental problems such as groundwater contamination and acid rain may be addressed.

The principal research interests of the faculty and research staff in Civil and Environmental Engineering are listed below. Students are encouraged to discuss their research ideas and particular objectives with those faculty members whose research interests most nearly match their own. The Coordinator can also answer questions on UROP policy. Registration for credits in amounts consistent with the student's interest and participation is encouraged; alternatively, student wages may often be arranged.

Course 1 Credit UROPs

Course 1 credit UROPs are generally undertaken for 6 to at most 9 units of credit. Students proposing a UROP for credit should plan to submit their UROP application to the the CEE departmentmental UROP Coordinator for review as early in the term as possible. Any student interested in receiving more than the 6-9 unit maximum must consult with the CEE-UROP coordinator before submitting an application, and should provide evidence of the substantive nature of the proposed credit work so that the coordinator can determine the appropriate unit total. Applications seeking a large number of credit units will not be approved if filed late in the term, but will be decreased in proportion with the academic weeks remaining in the term at filing time.

Faculty Research Descriptions

Dr. E. Eric Adams, 48-216B, x3-6595, eeadams@mit.edu

Environmental fluid mechanics, Boston Harbor, mixing in inland and coastal water bodies.

Prof. Cynthia Barnhart, 1-235A, x3-3815, cbarnhar@mit.edu

Mathematical programming models and large-scale optimization approaches for transportation and logistics systems; service network design and operations planning for scheduled transportation systems.

Prof. Moshe Ben-Akiva, 1-181, x3-5324, mba@mit.edu

Transportation systems analysis, intelligent transportation systems, demand modeling, data collection and statistical analysis, infrastructure management.

Prof. Rafael L. Bras, 48-213, x3-2117, rlbras@mit.edu

Hydrology, hydrometeorology, hydroclimatology, fluvial geomorphology, land- atmosphere interactions, nonlinear systems, random processes.

Prof. Markus J. Buehler, 1-235A&B, x2-2750, mbuehler@MIT.EDU, Lab URL: http://web.mit.edu/mbuehler/www/

Our lab's research is focused on understanding the mechanics of deformation and failure of biological materials. By utilizing a computational materials science approach, our goal is to understand the mechanical properties of biological materials from a fundamental level. Catastrophic phenomena that afflict millions of lives, ranging from the failure of the Earth’s crust in earthquakes, to the collapse of buildings, to the failure of bones due to injuries, all have one common underlying theme: the breakdown of the basic constituents of any material ultimately leads to the failure of its overall structure and intended function. The failure and deformation of engineering materials has been studied extensively and has impacted our world by enabling the design of complex structures and advanced devices. However, the mechanisms of failure in biological systems are not well understood, and represents an opportunity to generate novel concepts to initiate a new paradigm of materials science.

Prof. Oral Buyukozturk, 1-280, x3-7186, obuyuk@mit.edu

Structural mechanics and design; high performance materials; fracture and deterioration; retrofit of structures; bridge engineering; nondestructive evaluation.

Prof. Sallie W. Chisholm, 48-425, x3-1771, chisholm@mit.edu

Biological oceanography, plankton ecology.

Prof. Jerome J. Connor Jr., 1-253, x3-8435, jjconnor@mit.edu

Structural engineering, computational mechanics, large scale systems.

Prof. Edward F. De Long, 48-427, x3-5271, delong@mit.edu

Biology oceanography: Microbial ecology and evolution Biochemistry and Biogeochemistry Microbial and environmental genomics.

Prof. Richard de Neufville, E40-245, x3-7694, ardent@mit.edu

Technology and policy, dynamic strategic planning system analysis, airport planning and design, transportation systems.

Prof. Herbert H. Einstein, 1-342, x3-3598, einstein@mit.edu

Engineering geology, rock mechanics, underground construction, risk analysis.

Prof. El Fatih Eltahir, 48-205, x3-6596, eltahir@mit.edu

Hydrology, hydroclimatology, water resources.

Prof. Dara Entekhabi, 48-333, x3-9698, darae@mit.edu

Physical hydrology. Remote sensing. Land-atmosphere interaction.

Dr. Sheila Frankel, 48-216G, x3-2339, sfrankel@mit.edu

Aquatic ecology, instrumentation, flow cytometry, aquatic chemistry instructor.

Dr. John T. Germaine, 1-353, x3-7113, jgermain@mit.edu

Laboratory and field instrumentation, geotechnical engineering, data acquisition, lab testing automation.

Prof. Philip Gschwend, 48-413, x3-1638, pmgschwe@mit.edu

Environmental organic chemistry, volatilization, sorption, transformation processes, modeling fates of organic pollutants, roles of colloids.

Prof. Charles Harvey, 48-309, x8-0392, charvey@mit.edu

Groundwater hydrology; containment transport; environmental management.

Prof. Harold F. Hemond, 48-425, x3-1637, hfhemond@mit.edu

Cycling of chemicals in the environment, acid rain and hillslope hydrology, wetland geochemistry, and environmental instrumentation.

Prof. Patrick Jaillet 1,290, x452-3379, Jaillet@mit.edu

On-line problems; real-time and dynamic optimization; network design and optimization; probabilistic combinatorial optimization; financial engineering.

Prof. Eduardo Kausel, 1-271, x3-5336, kausel@mit.edu

Structural dynamics, soil dynamics, soil-structure interaction, earthquake engineering, structural mechanics, machine vibration, non-destructive testing.

Prof. Steven R. Lerman, 9-317, x3-4277, lerman@mit.edu

Educational uses of computing, large scale distributed computing systems, parallel algorithms, transportation demand modeling.

Prof. Ole S. Madsen, 48-216C, x3-2721, osm@mit.edu

Coastal and oceanographic engineering, turbulent boundary layer flow, sediment transport, free surface flow.

Prof. David H. Marks, E40-455, x3-1992, dhmarks@mit.edu

Sustainable development, environmental engineering, water resource systems, industrial ecology.

Mr. Carl D. Martland, 1-153, x3-5326, martlan@mit.edu

Freight transportation management, railroad systems, engineering economics, regional transportation planning.

Prof. Dennis B. McLaughlin, 48-329, x3-7176, dennism@mit.edu

Surface and groundwater hydrology, water resource systems, estimation and control.

Prof. Chiang C. Mei, 1-346, x3-2994, ccmei@mit.edu

Theoretical hydrodynamics, ocean and coastal wave phenomena, fluid-solid interaction, poroelasticity, seabed mechanics, land subsidence, debris and mud flow, mechanics of soil remediation.

Prof. Fred Moavenzadeh, 1-173, x3-7178, moaven@mit.edu

Construction industry, international construction, innovation and technological development.

Prof. Heidi M. Nepf, 48-216D, x3-8622, hmnepf@mit.edu

Physical mechanisms which affect transport and fate of containments and nutrients in lakes, wetlands, and coastal zones, vegetated flow dynamics.

Prof. Amedeo R. Odoni, 33-219, x3-7439, odoni@mit.edu

Operations research, transportation systems analysis, airport planning and design, air traffic control.

Prof. Carolina Osorio, 1-232, x2-3063, osorioc@mit.edu

Analysis of network congestion based on operations research methods (queueing theory, simulation, optimization) with applications in urban transportation, health care and biology.

Prof. Martin Polz, Rm. 48-417, x3-7128, mpolz@mit.edu

Environmental microbiology, microbial community structure & population dynamics, environmental geomics, ecology of pathogens, arsenic and uranium reducing bacteria.

Prof. Daniel Roos, E40-263, x3-1661, roos@mit.edu

Technology and policy, transportation systems, industry studies.

Prof. Yosef Sheffi, E40-275, x3-5316, sheffi@mit.edu

Transportation and logistics systems analysis; decision support systems for network optimizations with application to logistics management and carrier operations; supply chain management.

Prof. David Simchi-Levi, 1-171, x3-6160, dslevi@mit.edu

Transportation and logistics systems analysis; e-comerce and supply chain management; revenue and yield management; optimization based decisin support systems; operations research; telecommunications systems.

Prof. Roman Stocker, 48-335, x3-3726, romans@mit.edu

Environmental microfluidics, small scale fluid- dynamics, fluid- microorganisms interactions.

Prof. Joseph M. Sussman, 1-163, x3-4430, sussman@mit.edu

Transportation systems and institutions, regional strategic transportation planning, intercity freight and passenger rail, intelligent transportation systems, simulation and risk assessment methods.

Prof. Franz- Josef Ulm, 1-263, x3-3544, ulm@mit.edu

Durability mechanics of engineering materials and structures. Computational mechanics. Chemoporo- mechanics. High performance composite materials.

Prof. Daniele Veneziano, 1-348, x3-7199, venezian@mit.edu

Risk assessment, probabilistic modeling, statistical data analysis, stochastic hydrology.

Prof. Andrew Whittle, 1-353, x3-7122, ajwhittl@mit.edu

Geotechnical engineering; constitutive modeling analysis methods for foundations and underground structures, monitoring technology, in-situ testing.

Prof. John R. Williams, 1-250, x3-7201, jrw@mit.edu

Information technology, web based education technology, computer simulation, discrete element analysis of granular and powder systems.

Prof. Nigel Wilson, 1-238, x3-5046, nhmw@mit.edu

Public transportation, transport system design, new transportation systems.