Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering

Race or Racism? The Black-White Disparity in Preterm Birth
2021-02-22 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York)
We would like to invite you to attend the PROTECT (Puerto Rico Testsite for Exploring Contamination Threats) Spring 2021 Webinar, “Race or Racism? The Black-White Disparity in Preterm Birth.”
Dr. Paula Braveman, Professor of Family and Community Medicine and Founding Director of the Center for Health at the University of California, San Francisco will talk about racism as leading to health-harming experiences and exposures that should be considered possible contributors to racial disparities in preterm birth rates. To learn more about Dr. Braveman and her work, and for a description of the upcoming webinar, please visit the PROTECT website.
This webinar will be presented via Zoom Online Meetings and if you are able to join us, please register at the following link – REGISTER.
If you have any questions about the webinar or experience any issues with registration, please contact Kristin Hicks directly at k.hicks@northeastern.edu, or 617-373-5384.

CEE Department Graduate Student Social
2021-02-12 18:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
Join the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department’s Graduate Student Council (CEE GSC) for our annual Chinese New Year Social on February 12, at 6 PM EST, on zoom.
We will hang out, play games, and maybe explore some virtual environments.

CEE Lunch & Learn Seminar Series: Smoke, Satellites, and Storage Bins: AER’s Research in Air Quality and Greenhouse Gases
2021-02-12 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York)
The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering is pleased to announce the second event in our Lunch & Learn Seminar Series.
This event will feature Matthew Alvarado of AER, discussing “Smoke, Satellites, and Storage Bins: AER’s Research in Air Quality and Greenhouse Gases.”
If you are planning to attend, please RSVP for this event so we may get a proper headcount and share it with your colleagues and post-docs who you think may be interested. Details on how to attend will be sent to those who RSVP.
RSVP for this event

About Lunch & Learn:

This bimonthly seminar series focuses on convergent research, bringing together Northeastern colleagues and collaborators to think big/bold, explore ideas that build cooperation and foster transformative innovation within CEE and across disciplines beyond CEE.

Below, you may find participation information. This event is virtual via Microsoft Teams- RSVP to receive the link. Please contact Professor Yang Zhang (ya.zhang@northeastern.edu) with any questions.

Topic: CEE Lunch & Learn:
Smoke, Satellites, and Storage Bins: AER’s Research in Air Quality and Greenhouse Gases

Time: February 12, 2021 12:00 PM Eastern Time (Boston)
This talk will discuss three topics from AER’s recent and on-going research into air quality and greenhouse gases. First we will discuss the efforts at AER to improve our ability to model the impacts of biomass burning on ozone and PM2.5, with a focus on the chemistry that takes place within the smoke after emission. We will then discuss the use of satellite observations in air quality studies and monitoring, including work at AER to better constrain sources of ammonia, carbon dioxide, and methane. Finally, we will discuss a recent consulting project where we looked into the physics and chemistry of smoke from fires at eclectic storage facilities and made recommendations for how to model the impacts for planning and emergency response purposes. We will also discuss how AER has partnered with universities, national labs, and other organizations in pursuing these research topics.

Experiential Learning: Northeastern Co-op and Career Services - Civil and Environmental Engineering
2021-02-08 10:00 - 11:00 (America/New_York)
The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Northeastern University is pleased to present to you the third installment in our Graduate Programs in Civil and Environmental Engineering Webinar Series.

This webinar, titled Experiential Learning: Northeastern Co-op and Career Services, will introduce you to the cornerstone of the educational experience at Northeastern: our premier Cooperative Education (Co-op) program. Co-op is an educational model whereby students alternate periods of academic study and full-time employment to gain hands-on, professional experience in their field of interest, and build personal connections and contacts.

Graduate Programs in Civil and Environmental Engineering Webinar 3: Experiential Learning: Northeastern Co-op and Career Services

Thursday, February 8, 2021

10:00 – 11:00 AM EST

Register Here

Hosted by Civil and Environmental Engineering Associate Co-op Coordinator Cheryl Arruda, this webinar will help you understand:

What is co-op for MS students? How is co-op different than an internship?
Where can I go on co-op?
Who can participate in Co-op, and what is the process like for international students?
What is available in Northeastern’s Career Services office, frequently ranked #1 in the US?
Hear experiences from current MS students about their co-ops, and ask your questions.
And more!

Located in Boston, Massachusetts, New England’s largest city, Northeastern University is a wonderful place to study and live. Our city is home to world-class entertainment, restaurants, and sporting venues, a diverse and dynamic economy, and a thriving community of academic institutions.

Apply now!

This webinar content will be useful for both those who have already applied and those still considering applying. An application fee waiver code for those who have not yet applied will be included. Check the deadlines for applying for graduate study.

Innovative Solutions to Fight Ocean Pollution
2021-01-21 09:00 - 10:30 (America/New_York)
18 billion pounds of plastic enter our oceans each year, a harrowing fact that only accounts for a portion of our planet’s pollution crisis. Northeastern innovators are tackling this problem to create sustainable solutions for cleaner oceans. Bureo Inc, an emerging B-Corp, has created a program to recycle fishing nets into a NetPlus™ material, used in products by Patagonia and other partner companies.
Join the conversation to fight plastic pollution with Ben Kneppers, E’07, co-founder and COO of Bureo Inc., and Maarten Eenkema van Dijk, E’14, MS’15, operations manager for Van Dyk Recycling Solutions.

This event is complimentary but registration is required.

Register

Dialogue of Civilizations Fair
2021-01-20 17:30 - 19:30 (America/New_York)
The Dialogue of Civilizations (DOC) Fair is an opportunity for students to learn more about Northeastern’s signature faculty-led summer programs! Faculty member will be available via Zoom for questions and conversation. Representatives from Student Financial Services, the Honors Office, and GEO will also be available for any questions you may have. These are the opportunities for College of Engineering students:

Discovering Turkish Cultural Values and Engineering Economy Principles (Istanbul, Turkey) – Mohammad Dehghani
International Applications of Fluid Mechanics (Panama City, Panama) – Carlos Hidrovo Chavez
Process Safety and Chemical Engineering in Spain (Tarragona, Spain) – Ron Willey
Sustainable Urban Transportation (Delft, Netherlands) – Peter Furth
Sustainable Waste Management: Resource Recovery & Environmental Protection (Cagliari, Italy) – Annalisa Onnis-Hayden
Technical Innovation and Product Prototyping (San Jose, California) – Bala Maheswaran
Timber/Masonry Technology, Design and Architectural Practices in Northern Italy (Trieste, Italy) – Luca Caracoglia
Virtual – Sustainable Energy in 21st Century Brazil (Sao Paulo, Brazil) – Courtney Pfluger

Uncertainty Quantification and Dynamic Response of Buildings and Tower Structures under Stationary and Non-stationary Wind Loads
2021-01-15 08:30 - 10:30 (America/New_York)
Luca Caracoglia
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
lucac@coe.neu.edu

Date: Friday January 15th, 2:30-4:30 pm (CET), 8:30-10:30am (EST)
Link: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3a864f3dfe8993442ca116fe24bd231662%40thread.tacv2/1610092407076?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%226e6ade15-296c-4224-ac58-1c8ec2fd53a8%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%226d036117-bf26-4ee2-95fa-124ff7fb3f76%22%7d
Abstract: This presentation will review recent study activities examining the response of slender, vertical structures under the effects of destructive wind loads. These large-period, low-damping structures are sensitive to fluid-structure interaction and susceptible to damage induced by wind loads. The common feature of the research is the quantification of uncertain wind loads, associated with both stationary synoptic winds and localized, nonstationary events. The former are typical of large extra-tropical depressions and tropical cyclonic phenomena (at a scale of several hundred kilometers); the latter include thunderstorm downbursts and tornadoes (less than one kilometer in diameter). The research activities have been devoted to the examination of several methodologies for predicting the structural response by accounting for modeling uncertainty and measurement “errors”, e.g. loads evaluated by wind tunnel tests. The investigated methods are both analytical (stochastic calculus) and numerical (Monte-Carlo sampling). The ultimate goal of the research is the evaluation of wind-related damage over time in the context of risk analysis.
This presentation will include characterization of the dynamic response through multi-variable probability density functions and examination of lifecycle wind-related damage through intervention cost analysis. Examples will consider interactions on the envelope of tall buildings under various wind load scenarios and aeroelastic vibration causing damages primarily to nonstructural elements. The results will demonstrate that it is possible to predict the structural response and its consequences, even in the presence of large modeling and experimental load variability, provided that uncertainty propagation is extended to all the stages of structural analysis. These stages should possibly consider wind field simulation, wind-pressure load assessment and fluid-structure interaction.
Bio-sketch: Luca Caracoglia is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He joined Northeastern University in 2005. Prior to this appointment, he was a post-doctoral fellow in the Department of Civil Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland (USA) in 2001-2002 and a post-doctoral research associate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign, USA) in 2002-2004. He received his Ph.D. in Structural Engineering from the University of Trieste, Italy in 2001. His interests are in structural dynamics, random vibration, wind engineering, fluid-structure interaction of civil engineering structures, nonlinear cable network dynamics, energy harvesting systems in wind energy. Luca Caracoglia received the NSF-CAREER Award for young investigators in 2009. Luca Caracoglia was elected Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2020.

Caracoglia Part of International Panel to Discuss Bridge Aerodynamics
2021-01-07 12:00 - 13:00 (Europe/London)
The fourth in the series of international seminars organized by the University of Birmingham, UK and sponsored by the IAWE (International Association for Wind Engineering), will take place on Thursday 7th January 2021 at 12.00 noon UK time.
The seminar is entitled “Developments in Bridge Aerodynamics”. The program will be as follows.
Main Speaker: Prof John Owen, School of Engineering, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom, The Response of Bridges to Wind – Some Lessons from Monitoring Large Bridges
Short presentations:
Prof. Steve Cai, Louisiana State University, USA, Time domain simulation of turbulence effects on the aerodynamic flutter of long span bridges.
Prof. Claudio Mannini, University of Florence, Italy, Nonlinear modelling of self-excited forces for a long-span bridge under turbulent wind.
Prof. Ole Andre Øiseth, Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Lessons learned from long-term wind and acceleration monitoring of the Hardanger Bridge.
Prof. Luca Caracoglia, Northeastern University, Boston, USA, Relevance of Uncertainty Quantification to Study Wind Load Variability and its Effects on Long-Span Bridge Aeroelasticity.
This is a tremendous achievement. The top researchers in the world, in the field of long-span bridge aerodynamics, will talk to an audience of experts and PhD students from around the world (usually 300 people), who will be connected via ZOOM.
Refer to seminar page for more information including instructions for seminar registration, abstracts of the talks and biographical details of the speakers, including Prof. Luca Caracoglia.

Grad Applicant Webinar: Emerging Fields in Civil and Environmental Engineering
2021-01-07 10:00 - 11:00 (America/New_York)
The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Northeastern University is pleased to present to you the second installment in our Graduate Programs in Civil and Environmental Engineering Webinar Series.
This webinar, titled Emerging Fields in Civil and Environmental Engineering, will provide you with a deep-dive led by our professors into our MS in Engineering and Public Policy, MS in Sustainable Building Systems, and our Data and Systems concentration for our MS and PhD in Civil Engineering. Come learn how these unique interdisciplinary programs are preparing students for pressing societal challenges and emerging opportunities.
This webinar is hosted by Associate Professor Matthew Eckelman, developer of the MS in Engineering and Public Policy, Associate Professor David Fannon, Faculty Advisor for the MS in Sustainable Building Systems, and the Faculty Advisor for our Data and Systems program, Assistant Professor Amy Mueller.
Located in Boston, Massachusetts, New England’s largest city, Northeastern University is a wonderful place to study and live. Our city is home to world-class entertainment, restaurants, and sporting venues, a diverse and dynamic economy, and thriving community of academic institutions.
This webinar will feature an application fee waiver code for those who have not yet applied. Please be aware of our application deadlines. Therefore, it is highly recommended that you prepare your application materials as soon as possible.
Graduate Programs in Civil and Environmental Engineering Webinar 2: Emerging Fields in CEE
Thursday, January 7, 2021
10:00 – 11:00 AM EST
Register Here

CEE Graduate Student Game Night
2020-12-18 18:00 - 19:30 (America/New_York)
Join the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department Graduate Students for a Game Night!
12/18 @ 6 PM on Zoom.
Our plan is to have three breakout rooms of games including trivia, scribble, and among us. Members of GSC will be in the lobby chatting and coordinating break out rooms. Come hang & play with us!

Research and Funding Opportunities in Civil and Environmental Engineering
2020-12-14 10:00 - 11:00 (America/New_York)
As you consider pursuing graduate school, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Northeastern University would like to invite you to the first in our new Graduate Programs in Civil and Environmental Engineering Webinar Series.

This first webinar will provide you an overview of research and funding opportunities with our department, as well as how our interdisciplinary programs are preparing students for both traditional and emerging fields in civil and environmental engineering.

Hosted by our Associate Chair for Graduate Studies Associate Professor Andrew Myers and the Faculty Advisor for our Data and Systems program, Assistant Professor Amy Mueller, attendees will learn about fellowships, current research, past graduates’ successes, and have an opportunity to ask questions from our faculty presenters.

Located in Boston, Massachusetts, New England’s largest city, Northeastern University is a wonderful place to study and live. Our city is home to world-class entertainment, restaurants, and sporting venues, a diverse and dynamic economy, and thriving community of academic institutions.

While the deadline for PhD applicants is December 15, attendees for this webinar will receive both a deadline extension and an application fee waiver code. MS applicant deadlines remain the same.

Graduate Programs in Civil and Environmental Engineering Webinar 1: Research and Funding Opportunities
Monday, December 14, 2020
10:00 – 11:00 AM EST
Register Here

CEE Lunch & Learn Seminar Series
2020-11-12 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York)
The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering’s Research Affairs Committee (RAC) is pleased to announce our newest seminar series: Lunch & Learn. This bi-monthly lunchtime event will explore interdisciplinary engineering issues, encouraging collaboration amongst Northeastern colleagues and collaborators on transformative ideas related to CEE and beyond.

We would like to invite you to join us for the inaugural event in this series, a discussion with CEE Professor Auroop Ganguly and Dr. Evan Kodra of risQ. Their presentation, Convergent Academic Research to Socially Motivated Startup: the case of Northeastern-spinout risQ, will explore the development of risQ as a viable business entity capable of maintaining its social mission. 30 minutes of Q&A will follow the presentation.

Topic: CEE Lunch & Learn: Drs. Ganguly and Kodra

Time: Nov 12, 2020 12:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Please RSVP to receive a link to participate in this event.

Civil and Environmental Engineering Webinar
2020-11-10 08:00 - 09:00 (America/New_York)
Join faculty staff and current students to learn more about graduate school options in Civil + Environmental Engineering
Tuesday, November 10
8:00 AM EST
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Vv1zQp56T1aTOv2k9mlFKQ

Halloween Themed Presentations with CEE GSC
2020-10-29 20:00 - 22:00 (America/New_York)
You’re invited to the Civil and Environmental Department Graduate Student Halloween Social
Thursday 10/29 @ 8 PM on Zoom
Costumes and custom zoom backgrounds are encouraged!! To accommodate for the virtual environment, we are going to do Presentation Karaoke with a winner’s prize.
Presentation Karaoke is where volunteers improvise some funny stories over a presentation as if they’d designed it. The theme for Presentation Karaoke will be ‘Halloween.’
Feel free to simply attend and listen to the fun presentations and stories if you don’t want to actively participate.

Virtual Heads Up Lunchtime Funtime
2020-10-01 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York)
Graduate Student Services is hosting a Heads Up Virtual “lunchtime funtime” event for Master’s students to get to know each other and play an exciting competition against each other on October 1st, 12-1pm EST! Heads Up is a game where one student in a group will have to guess 10 words within a category with the help of their group members. You will need to register via the Zoom link we will send out shortly to students to attend the event.

COE Clubs/Organizations Fair
2020-09-17 18:30 - 19:30 (America/New_York)
The College of Engineering Clubs/Organizations Fair takes place on Thursday, September 17, 2020, from 6:30pm-7:30pm. Find out what student groups are all about & meet some of the student leaders involved! Learn more about the groups participating and how to join!

Civil and Environmental Engineering Solutions to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Panel Series
2020-07-20 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York)
Summer 2020
During these unprecedented times, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and its Industrial Advisory Board present a series of panel discussions on Civil and Environmental Engineering solutions addressing the COVID-19 Pandemic. The impact of the pandemic 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. Drawing on the deep expertise of our faculty and industry leaders, these discussions will explore the ways in which we may respond to the pandemic’s impact on our health, society, and economy. Questions from the audience will be incorporated into each panel discussion.
Urban Mobility and the Gig Economy: The Future of Urban Life and Work with COVID-19
Monday, July 20, 2020 at 12pm EST
Register and Learn More
The Future of Transportation Resilience: Transportation Systems in the Age of COVID-19
Wednesday, July 29, 2020 at 12pm EST
Register and Learn More
Environmental Health in a Pandemic: The Impact of COVID-19 on Water Systems
Wednesday, August 12, 2020 at 12pm EST
Register and Learn More

DURABLE Exhibition Opening
2020-02-27 18:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
DURABLE is an exhibition about sustainability in the built environment curated by CEE faculty David Fannon and Matthew Eckelman, as well as Architecture faculty Michelle Laboy and Peter Wiederspahn. Precedent buildings, physical objects, and LCA data illustrate how buildings that endure for generations while constantly adapting to ever-changing human needs sustain both human life, and the planet on which we build.
The exhibition runs from February 21 to May 31 at BSA Space at 290 Congress Street, Boston. All are welcome at the opening reception, on Thursday, February 27th from 6-8pm, please RSVP here.

Engineers Week: Anticipating The Future Built Environment
2020-02-20 15:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | 102 ISEC, 360 Huntington Ave, 102 ISEC, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
Gerald E. BuckwalterChief Operating and Strategy Officer,American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
In celebration of National Engineers Week, the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Northeastern University will host American Society of Civil Engineers Chief Operating and Strategy Officer Gerald Buckwalter for a Distinguished Seminar.
This event is brought to you in partnership with the Boston Association of Structural Engineers (BASE), Boston Society of Civil Engineers Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers (BSCES), and the Structural Engineers Association of Massachusetts (SEAMASS).
This seminar takes place in 102 Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex (ISEC), located at 805 Columbus Avenue, Boston, MA 02120, a short walk from the Ruggles Orange Line station.
Anticipating the Future Built Environment
ABSTRACT: From climate change to autonomous vehicles, engineers are confronting a variety of environmental challenges, demographic shifts and technological changes that will require a drastic rethinking of how we build, operate, and maintain our infrastructure systems. Planning for the future is difficult for nearly every organization. ASCE decided to launch the Future World Vision project to help meet this challenge. We compiled and winnowed more than 100 global macrotrends to examine six important sociopolitical, economic, environmental, and technological trends as key drivers of change for future built infrastructure. Our desire is that the Future World Vision project will establish ASCE and civil engineers as bold thought leaders, provide a platform to envision the future built environment and ultimately optimize future system performance and the benefit to society, and be a next-generation tool that interacts and resonates with those who will create the future built environment—the next generation of civil engineers. The Future World Vision platform is an immersive computer model, using gaming engines, that will create virtual future worlds with evocative visuals, multiple characters and rich narratives that explore holistic city, community and neighborhood systems, including the cultural, social, economic, political, ethical and environmental aspects at different scales. This platform will enable engineers to ask the right questions about a future built environment that doesn’t exist yet, contemplate solutions, postulate the resulting benefit to society – well in advance of starting to design those solutions. This will enable us to better prepare engineers today for possible future needs and challenges.
BIO: Gerald (Jerry) E. Buckwalter has more than 35 years of varied executive leadership in general management, business development, strategy and innovation, program operations and policy development spanning military, government, international, and commercial domains. He is the Chief Operating and Strategy Officer of ASCE, overseeing all aspects of internal operations including Finance, Administration, Engineering, Lifelong Learning, and Human Resources. Prior to joining ASCE, Mr. Buckwalter was a Northrop Grumman Corporate Director of Strategy. His responsibilities included reshaping the company’s business portfolio, mergers and acquisitions, long-term strategies, innovation initiatives, and professional development. Among many distinguished service positions, Mr. Buckwalter was a member of the National Infrastructure Advisory Council reporting to the White House from 2008 to 2012. Mr. Buckwalter earned a degree in Physics from Monmouth University and has extensive continuing education at George Washington University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Engineers Week: PhD Engineering Research Expo
2020-02-20 10:00 - 12:00 (America/New_York) | Curry Student Center, 360 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA, 02115, United States
Experience innovation firsthand! Engineering PhD students show their research in cutting-edge areas, from robotics, computer vision and biomechanics to nanomedicine, cell- tissue engineering, and machine learning, at the second annual poster/oral presentation research exposition. Let the competition begin!
Curry Student Center Ballroom

Networking @ Night 2020: BU NSBE x SHPE
2020-02-10 19:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York)
BU’s Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and the BU’s National Society of Black Engineers are co-hosting this upcoming Spring: Networking at Night 2020. Recruiters, that include those from Northeastern and students from various industry partners, graduate schools, and research groups, will come together for an encouraging and informative evening for our membership. The event is open to the greater engineering community, and attendees will also have the opportunity to network with a broad talent pool. The event will take place at Boston University’s Howard Thurman Center.
Register Now

COE Information Session for Undergraduates
2020-01-22 11:45 - 14:15 (America/New_York) | Admissions Visitor Center (West Village F)
COVID-19 Update: At this time, all prospective student information sessions, campus tours, and college programming previously scheduled for our Boston campus between March 16 and May 1 will be offered on a virtual platform. Check the Admissions website for more information.

The College of Engineering holds Information Sessions with presentations and tours most Wednesdays during the school year starting from the Visitor’s Center. This “mini” open house for prospective undergraduate engineering students and their families is an engineering-specific information session followed by a tour of the College of Engineering led by one of our students. It is an opportunity to learn about our academic programs, cooperative education, support services, and the admissions process. It’s also a great time to see our facilities, meet other faculty and staff, and get your questions answered.

Wednesdays 11:45 AM in Admissions Visitor Center (West Village F). The program will last approximately two and a half hours. It is highly recommended that attendees also register for the Explore Northeastern session which includes a short general information session and general campus tour. (Note: Saturday sessions will not include the lab tour.) To register, visit our Admissions website and select “College Specific programs.”

Planned and Unintended Consequences of Environmental Change: COE Distinguished Seminar
2019-12-05 15:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | 103 Churchill, 103 Churchill Hall, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
Planned and Unintended Consequences of Environmental Change
Seizing Science to Meet 21st Century Engineering Challenges
The 2019 Northeastern University College of Engineering
Distinguished Seminar
Hosted by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
with Dr. Ana Barros, Edmund T. Pratt Jr. School Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Duke University

ABSTRACT: On the 50th anniversary of the National Environmental Policy Act, we revisit the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process in the light of recent advances in our understanding of complex environmental systems.
In particular, research will be presented that investigates the emergent space-time organization of water cycle processes by climate, topography, landform, and land-cover in the Andes and in the Amazon basin which in turn determines regional freshwater supplies, material fluxes, and extreme events. The results show that small-scale anthropocentric land-use change (mining, agriculture, and others) can impact the viability of macro-engineering projects (e.g. dam construction) and lead to continental-scale environmental change. Examples of engineering projects over CONUS will be reviewed emphasizing the differences between evidence of impacts (planned consequences) and evidence of feedbacks including long–range dependencies (unintended consequences). Finally, we argue that EIA tools need to be expanded and updated to incorporate the most recent science and modeling capabilities (e.g. Earth System Models).
Further, the case is made to link the EIA and the engineering project development processes is necessary to achieve adaptation, sustainability and resilience needs of coupled human-natural systems in a changing climate.
Bio: Dr. Ana P. Barros is the Edmund T. Pratt, Jr. School Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Duke University. Her primary research interests are in Hydrology, Hydrometeorology and Environmental Physics with a focus on water-cycle processes in regions of complex terrain, remote sensing of the environment, and predictability and risk assessment of extreme events. Her research relies on intensive field and laboratory experiments, large–scale computational modeling, nonlinear data analysis and environmental informatics. Prof. Barros has served in multiple national committees over the years, such as the Space Studies Board of the National Research Council, the Water Science and Technology Board, the Board of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, and the US National Committee for the International Hydrology Program (IHP) of the UNESCO. She was a Senior Fellow at the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA) 2011-2015, and she is a founding member of the ASCE committee on Climate Change and Adaptation. Currently, Dr. Barros is Chair of Atmospheric and Hydrospheric Sciences at AAAS, and President-Elect of the Hydrology Section of AGU.
Please arrive early for seating.

COE Information Session for Undergraduates
2019-12-04 11:45 - 14:15 (America/New_York), 2019-11-20 11:45 - 14:15 (America/New_York), 2019-11-06 11:45 - 14:15 (America/New_York), 2019-10-16 11:45 - 14:15 (America/Halifax) | Admissions Visitor Center (West Village F)
The College of Engineering holds Information Sessions with presentations and tours most Wednesdays during the school year starting from the Visitor’s Center. This “mini” open house for prospective undergraduate engineering students and their families is an engineering-specific information session followed by a tour of the College of Engineering led by one of our students. It is an opportunity to learn about our academic programs, cooperative education, support services, and the admissions process. It’s also a great time to see our facilities, meet other faculty and staff, and get your questions answered.

Wednesdays 11:45 AM in Admissions Visitor Center (West Village F). The program will last approximately two and a half hours. It is highly recommended that attendees also register for the Explore Northeastern session which includes a short general information session and general campus tour. To register, visit our Admissions website and select “College Specific programs.”

Molecular Tools to Provide Insights into the Fate of Organic Contaminants in Aquatic Systems
2019-11-14 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | 103 Churchill, 103 Churchill Hall, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA, 02115, United States
Please join the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering for a seminar with Dr. Allison MacKay, Professor and Chair of Civil, Environmental, and Geodetic Engineering at Ohio State University.
Molecular Tools to Provide Insights into the Fate of Organic Contaminants in Aquatic Systems
ABSTRACT: Environmental engineers have long been concerned with the fate of organic contaminants in aquatic systems, including both natural systems such as lakes and engineered systems such as drinking water treatment plants. Existing fate prediction models tend to fail for so-called ‘emerging’ contaminants (recently quantified, unregulated contaminants with suspected toxic activity) because these contaminants undergo more complicated processes in the environment. We have been exploring how advances in molecular level characterization tools from the pharmaceutical and biochemical sciences may offer new opportunities to understand the underlying mechanisms of contaminant fate processes for contaminants with complex chemical structures. This presentation will focus on: (i) our applications of computational chemistry tools to obtain insights into the role of electron distributions in positively-charged organic contaminant binding to clays and organic matter in environmental systems, and (ii) our recent use of high-resolution mass spectrometry to probe alterations of complex organic matter following drinking water treatment processes. Insights gained from these approaches can lead to refinements of contaminant fate models and ultimately, better management of aquatic systems.
BIO: Dr. Allison MacKay is Professor and Chair of Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering at Ohio State University. Her research program is directed toward the fate of contaminants in engineered and natural aquatic systems. Current project examples include developing better guidance for drinking water plant operators to manage the treatment of toxins from algae in reservoirs, and integrating advanced molecular computation tools to identify the binding mechanisms of contaminants in sediments and soils.
She currently serves on the Board of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors. Dr. MacKay holds Doctoral and Master degrees in Environmental Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She received a Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Engineering Science (Chemical Option) from the University of Toronto.

Graduate Civil & Environmental Engineering Webinar
2019-10-24 10:00 - 11:00 (America/New_York)
This is a webinar presented by faculty, Graduate Admissions, and current students in the Civil & Environmental Engineering department for prospective and admitted students.

Thoughts on Our Future Vision for Structural Engineering
2019-10-22 17:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Alumni Center, 716 Columbus Ave, 6th Floor, Boston, MA, 02120, United States
Thoughts on Our Future Vision for Structural Engineering
From the Structural Engineering Institute’s New President
Northeastern University Alumni Center, 6th Floor.
5PM – 7PM
Join us for this Northeastern University Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Distinguished Seminar, hosted by the Northeastern SEI Graduate Student Chapter.
Glenn Bell, the Structural Engineering Institute’s New President, will be delivering remarks at 6pm, following a 5pm reception.
ABSTRACT:
A future world where society is increasingly affected by massive population growth, changing demographics, scarce resources, and a planet damaged by human activity presents great opportunities for structural engineers. Simultaneously massive advances in technology promise to completely disrupt structural engineering as we know it today. In response to this, in 2013 the Structural Engineering Institute (SEI) created and published A Vision for Structural Engineers and Structural Engineering: A Case for Change, and has embarked on programs to achieve ambitious goals to bring about exciting change in our profession. Since 2013 we have made gratifying advances in areas like promotion of performance-based design, globalization, and the engagement of the next generation of structural engineers.
In 2019 SEI updated its Vision and worked with the National Council of Structural Engineers Associations and the Council of American Structural Engineers to create and collaborate on a joint Vision. New or enhanced future goals include developing future structural engineers as leaders, resilience/sustainability, and achieving greater diversity in our profession. At the same time ASCE has embarked on an inspiring and thought-provoking Future World Vision to advance all of Civil Engineering. Glenn will report on SEI’s and ASCE’s ambitious plans and offer his own thoughts on initiatives he will stress as SEI’s President. These include engaging and empowering the next generation of structural engineers, strengthening the interaction between practice, research, and academia, and reform in structural engineering education.
Bio:
Glenn Bell’s term as SEI President commenced on 1 October 2019.
Glenn is a Senior Principal of Simpson Gumpertz & Heger. He has worked his entire 45-year career at SGH, in creative structural design and in leading major investigations of structural distress and failure. He was SGH’s CEO from 1995 through 2016. Glenn is also Galletly-Dickson Visiting Scholar at the University of Bath in the UK.
Glenn is a Board Trustee of the Institution of Structural Engineers (IStructE) in the UK, a Director of The Charles Pankow Foundation, and a Director of the newly formed Confidential Reporting on Structural Safety in the US (CROSS-US). For his professional leadership Glenn received the 2018 SEI President’s Award and the 2019 SEI Tewksbury Award.
