With a strategic focus on urban engineering, Northeastern’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering is at the forefront of interdisciplinary research and education in the evolving fields of environmental health, civil infrastructure security, and sustainable resource engineering.
Research Thrusts
While ostensibly an issue of personal and public health, the pandemic's impact on all facets of life necessitates a broadly interdisciplinary approach to combating the disease, mitigating its economic impacts, and building a more resilient world against future threats. Learn about the research Civil and Environmental Engineering at Northeastern is conducting into COVID-19.
COVID-19 Research in Civil and Environmental Engineering
Snell Professor and Associate Dean for Research Akram Alshawabkeh was awarded $13.2M from the NIH for the multi-institutional and interdisciplinary research project for environmental influences of child health outcomes in Puerto Rico.
Environmental Health
Yujie Yan, PhD student, focuses research on developing autonomous unmanned aerial systems to conduct routine inspection and post-disaster assessment of infrastructure.
Civil Infrastructure Security
Professor Auroop Ganguly, director of the Sustainability and Data Sciences Laboratory, uses technologies such as artificial intelligence and deep machine learning to enhance climate science understanding and inform policy.
Sustainable Resource Engineering
Our students are engaged in critical engineering challenges, both locally and globally. From Engineers Without Borders to the American Society of Civil Engineers—there is something for everyone to have fun while expanding your knowledge.
CommunitySpotlight Stories
NSF CAREER Award to Improve Home Thermal Automation
Assistant Professor Michael Kane, civil and environmental engineering, recently received the National Science Foundation CAREER Award. The project will enable the design of automation in the built environment that models human physiological and behavioral responses to changing environmental temperature conditions to satisfy competing objectives of energy management and occupant comfort.
Faculty Position Available
The department is seeking candidates for a tenure or tenure-track position in the area of Scientific Computing for Infrastructure Materials and one for a tenure or tenure-track position whose research addresses key challenges in Sustainable Water Systems and Coastal Ecosystems, broadly defined.
Engineering in Action
World-Renowned Cooperative Education
Te’Erica Eason is pursuing a BS in Environmental Engineering. She is also on the varsity basketball team and an e-board member of the New England Water and Environmental Association. She says co-op is her guiding light and so far worked at WSP USA on hydropower. She hopes to open her own business in water distribution systems in undeveloped rural areas when she graduates.
World-Renowned Cooperative Education
Jude Arbogast, BS, Civil Engineering, has done two co-ops at Suffolk Construction—one in scheduling and staffing, and the other in the field where he found his love of construction management. He says co-op allowed him to put his knowledge to the test and find out what he really wanted to do.
Recent News
Expect a Busy Thanksgiving Travel Week
CEE Assistant Professor Qi “Ryan” Wang has been studying mobility models to see how people move and predicts that travel during the Thanksgiving break will be that similar to pre-pandemic levels.
Evaluating Earthquake Resilience in Urban Areas
CEE Professor Mehrdad Sasani was awarded a $400K NSF grant for a “Scalable Assessment of Urban Earthquake Resilience: A Novel Model-informed Deep Learning Paradigm.”
Biking to a Better Tomorrow
CEE Professor Peter Furth is encouraging communities to invest in biking infrastructure to lessen traffic congestion.
Northeastern University Team Places Second in International Wastewater Design Competition
A team of civil and environmental engineering seniors placed second in the Wastewater Category of the 2021 WEFTEC Connect Student Design Competition, which saw the participation of 23 schools and four countries.