Sustainability in Structural Engineering
At Northeastern University, sustainability in structural engineering is envisioned as achieving net zero embodied carbon while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, material use, pollution, and waste. Our curriculum provides the next generation of structural engineers with the tools to incorporate the principles of sustainability into structural engineering. This involves reimagining traditional building materials through novel engineering techniques.
Our students design high rises out of timber, study the importance of adaptive reuse of existing infrastructure, and explore ways to design buildings to be disassembled and their materials reused in new structures. Our department takes an interdisciplinary approach to structural engineering, such as incorporating environmental engineering strategies for life-cycle assessment into structural design.
Dive Deeper: Building a Carbon Negative Future with Steel and Cross-Laminated Timber
Professors Hajjar, Kane, Eckelman, and Laboy are developing a new carbon sequestration technique using cross-laminated timber composite floor systems in bolted steel construction for building structures. The team’s research may enable widespread construction of carbon-negative multi-story buildings in the coming years.