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
Engineering in Action
PhD Research for Impact
Always fascinated by the ocean, Tyler McCormack (PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering) found his calling at Northeastern in studying wave mechanics. His research—based on inexpensive optical methods—is part of a new approach to monitoring the ocean’s near-shore environment, where deploying traditional instruments can be difficult, expensive, and dangerous.
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.
PhD Research for Impact
Nicholas Briggs (PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering) has used his Northeastern University experience to study composite materials—steel and concrete—under seismic loads, the stress exerted on structures by an earthquake. Working with teams in Northeastern’s “STReSS lab,” he’s gained experience to pave the way for both the practical and human sides of his career.
MS Co-op for Career Opportunities
When Ece Alan (MS in Sustainable Building Systems) came to Northeastern from Istanbul, Turkey, the first thing she appreciated was the welcoming atmosphere for international students. Later, it was the hands-on learning and a co-op experience with RDH Building Science in Seattle—which matched her with the skills to find a job at one of her dream engineering firms.
Recent News
How nature-based solutions are being used to fight rising seas
CEE Assistant Professor Julia Hopkins has been working to improve her designs for the Emerald Tutu project, a floating marshland made of interconnected mats of marsh grasses, which could serve as a defense system to protect against future floods caused by rising seas, while also purifying the surrounding waters.
Sustainability and Data Sciences Laboratory Invited to Present at United Nations HQ
The Sustainability and Data Sciences Laboratory presented at a United Nations event on disaster risk reduction, highlighting the importance of data-driven climate resilience and resilient infrastructure.
How AI is making weather forecasts more accurate
Interdisciplinary engineering alumni Kate Duffy, PhD’21, and Thomas Vandal, PhD’18, both worked as NASA scientists before creating the new start-up, Zeus AI, which uses AI and machine learning to analyze data from satellites to improve weather forecasting.
Coming soon: A co-op experience living under the ocean in the world’s largest undersea science station
MES/CEE Professor Mark Patterson and CEE Affiliated Faculty Brian Helmuth serve as chief science advisors for the Proteus project, which involves the development of an underwater habitat observatory and lab off the coast of Curacao to research marine science and train for extreme environments like outer space.