Spotlight Stories
Jan 29, 2026
Reframing Our Awe of Nature to Help Save the Environment
A recent study on the connection between living underwater and environmental consciousness has been published with the help of MES/CEE Professor Mark Patterson, CEE Affiliated Faculty Brian Helmuth, and CEE Affiliated Professor Geoffrey Trussel. With the help of an assisting PhD student, they interviewed and recorded the behavior of aquanauts-those that experiment and spend large amounts of time under the water. Findings claim that aquanauts experience an “underview effect”, a cognitive shift that deepens the connection and commitment to their research.
Dec 11, 2025
Forecasting for Meaningful Climate Solutions
Puja Das, MS’22, PhD’25, civil and environmental engineering, grew up in Bangladesh, where she saw there was a need for intensive research on the climate. She has dedicated her studies to finding the most accurate and precise forecasting models to help prepare for and mitigate climate disasters.
Oct 27, 2025
Helping Communities Impacted by the Climate Crisis
Raiana Sumpter, E’27, environmental engineering, cares deeply about two things: protecting vulnerable communities from climate change and building a more sustainable future for everyone. Through her classes and work experience, she has contributed to projects that address these challenges. She hopes to continue working on sustainable solutions in engineering.
Sep 29, 2025
PhD Student Attends Climate Week in New York City
Aayushi Mishra, PhD’28, interdisciplinary engineering, in Northeastern University’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the inaugural Lizzy Warner Fellow, recently attended Climate Week NYC. This year’s Climate Week was […]
Aug 21, 2025
Making Positive Changes in the Environmental Field
Chaz Garraway, MS’26, climate science and engineering, grew up in The Bahamas, experiencing firsthand how climate change impacts the environment and the people who inhabit it. He always knew the importance of environmental work and wanted to contribute to making a positive change.
Jun 30, 2025
Flexible, Interdisciplinary, and Industry-Aligned Sustainable Building Systems Program
Jose Velazquez, MS’24, sustainable building systems, worked full time while completing his master’s degree at Northeastern. Velazquez applied the knowledge he gained in class directly to his position at C&W Services.
Jun 10, 2025
PhD Spotlight: John Moody, PhD’25, Civil and Environmental Engineering
John Moody, PhD’25, civil and environmental engineering, focused his research on improving the maintenance of urban rail systems, designing strategies to increase available time for maintenance activities and frameworks to quantify and act on the trade-offs between maintenance and revenue of passenger-carrying service.
Jun 10, 2025
PhD Spotlight: Joseph Rodriguez, PhD’25, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Joseph Rodriguez, PhD’25, civil and environmental engineering, conducted research funded by the Department of Energy on developing AI-based control strategies to improve transit reliability and efficiency. The proposed strategies and technologies have the potential to transform how frontline transit staff deliver service.