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Urban Engineering

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
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Environmental Health

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
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Civil Infrastructure Security

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
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Sustainable Resource Engineering

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
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Student Life

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.

Community

Spotlight Stories

Carrie Tam.
Carrie Tam
BS Civil Engineering and Architectural Studies, 2022

Carrie Tam, E’22, was always interested in buildings. It seemed perfect that she discovered Northeastern’s Bachelor of Science degree...

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Evan Kodra
Evan Kodra
PhD Interdisciplinary Engineering, 2014

His own entrepreneurial success inspires him to support future change-makers Evan Kodra, who earned his PhD in Interdisciplinary Engineering...

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Samuel Munoz

NSF CAREER Award to Improve Flood Hazard Assessments

MES/CEE Assistant Professor Samuel Muñoz was awarded a $718K NSF CAREER award for “Sedimentary signatures of large riverine floods to constrain risk and build resiliency.”

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Jerome Hajjar in audience at Annual Academic Awards Convocation.

Hajjar Recognized at 2022 Academic Awards Convocation

CEE Chair & CDM Smith Professor Jerome F. Hajjar, recently elected as a Member of the National Academy of Engineering, was featured in a video during the annual Academic Awards Convocation.

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Faculty Position Available

The department is seeking candidates for tenured or tenure-track appointments at the assistant, associate or full professor level in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

View Open Positions

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

Announcing Fall 2023 PEAK Experiences Awardees

Several engineering students and science students mentored by COE faculty are recipients of Northeastern’s Fall 2023 PEAK Experiences Awards. Projects this fall are tackling a range of topics and modes with students developing an autobiographical zine, studying the development of amphibian limbs, building better rocket parts, and more. BASE CAMP AWARDS Farhad Ibrahimzade COE’26 & […]

As Hurricane Lee approaches, ocean sensors deployed by Northeastern researchers will study wave and storm surge

CEE Assistant Professor Julia Hopkins and CEE/MES Professor Jim Chen are deploying buoys and pressure sensors to collect data during Hurricane Lee to improve storm modeling and design nature-based solutions for coastal resilience.

New Methods of Treating Contaminated Water

Senior Associate Dean for Research and Global University Campus Akram Alshawabkeh was awarded a patent for a “Robust flow-through platform for organic contaminants removal.” Abstract Source: USPTO Disclosed is an electro-Fenton-like (EFL) platform wherein an electrochemically produced acidic environment supports heterogeneous Fenton-like reaction for high throughput water treatment. The platform enables the treatment of contaminated […]

Flooding in Libya a ‘gray swan’ event, but dam infrastructure worldwide ‘not ready’ to meet the demands of a changing climate, expert says

CEE Professor Auroop Ganguly described the extreme flooding in Libya, caused by Storm Daniel, as a “gray swan” event or a rare but predictable event that can reveal deficiencies in infrastructure readiness and resilience.