professor working in research lab

Research

Convergent research with collaboration across government, industry, and academia

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering attracts exceptional faculty who conduct state-of-the-art research, are dedicated educators at both the undergraduate and graduate level, and advance the state of professional practice. Faculty conduct interdisciplinary research in department research areas, as part of the college’s multidisciplinary research centers, and within their laboratories, as well as working across the university, and with industry, government, and academia.

The department also has dedicated staff who provide a range of operational services, including laboratory technicians, a dedicated machine shop, and budget and finance.

View faculty profiles including faculty laboratory research, and recent Annual Reports.


Quick Facts

$34M

external research funding (2021-23)

14

young investigator awards

3

research centers and institutes

38

tenured/tenure-track faculty


The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering education and research missions are focused on Urban Engineering, anchored by several multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional centers and programs. Building on current strengths and expanding into new and vital areas, three overarching interdisciplinary research and education thrusts of the department include Environmental Health, Civil Infrastructure Security, and Sustainable Resource Engineering, with subthemes and disciplinary excellence in each of these areas. We have premier departmental strengths in four integrated enabling technologies that include Simulation (both computational and experimental), Smart Sensing, and Data and Network Science, and Urban Informatics.

cee infographic about programs and research

Recent News

Sunlight is Breaking Down Plastic Threatening Ocean Health

MES/COS/CEE Professor Aron Stubbins has found that sunlight breaks down plastics in the ocean into hundreds of new chemicals which will potentially have harmful environmental and health consequences.

2023 Stanford University Annual Assessment of Author Citations

The following COE professors are among the top scientists worldwide selected by Stanford University representing the top 2% of the most-cited scientists with single-year impact in various disciplines. The selection is based on the top 100,000 by c-score (with and without self-citations) or a percentile rank of 2% or above. The list below includes those […]

Caracoglia Part of Team to Test Life Size Buildings Against Simulated Tornados

CEE Professor Luca Caracoglia is part of a team of researchers across nine universities who have been given a four-year, $14 million grant by the U.S. National Science Foundation to design a facility that can test tornado effects on real-life scale building models.

Pankow Foundation Greenlights Phase II of Hajjar’s Steel Plate Flooring System Grant

CDM Smith Professor and Chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Jerry Hajjar announced a $415,000 grant constituting Phase II of a multi-year grant from the Charles Pankow Foundation totaling $835,000 to date. The award is in conjunction with collaborators from Johns Hopkins, Virginia Tech, Iowa State, West Virginia University, industry partners Magnusson […]