Our mission is to advance education and research in engineering the built and natural environments, with a particular emphasis on long-term sustainability.
We use technologies from materials science, physics, biology, mathematics, computing and the social sciences to ask how we can best design and manage the buildings and cities, dams and water systems, highway networks and energy grids that support our daily lives.
Both research and teaching in our department have a global reach. Faculty are currently working in Japan, Armenia, Chile, Tanzania, India, France, Israel, Mozambique and Bangladesh, among other countries.
Current projects include engineering and renovation of dams, coral reef hydrodynamics, new approaches to mass transit systems, waste water reuse, the development of novel, bio-based structural materials, and the use of life cycle analyses and seismic technologies to ensure sustainable buildings and infrastructure. We collaborate regularly with academic and industrial partners, utilities, non-profits and governmental agencies worldwide to tackle civil and environmental engineering challenges.
