Above: A view of lower Manhattan from the deck of the Brooklyn Bridge. Much of the work in this department focuses on problems and solutions in and around urban environments.
Unprecedented urbanization is impacting people and the planet from local to global scales. Multi-infrastructure systems-thinking and design innovations led by civil and environmental engineers are central to developing resilient, sustainable, healthy, livable and equitable urban futures.
Faculty in this area explore human-infrastructure-environment interactions at multiple scales, advancing fundamental science, interdisciplinary urban-systems science, multi-infrastructure design and science-policy linkages. We study resource requirements of future urbanization, infrastructure transition pathways, and the response, recovery and adaptation of urban systems under multiple hazards. We connect cities to surrounding earth systems to mitigate extreme heat, wind, flooding and pollution. We develop integrated multi-infrastructure models that address the nexus of land, buildings, energy, water, food, and mobility systems. We design nature-based solutions and next-generation cyberphysical technologies. Collectively, this research informs critical emerging urban agendas, such as developing water-sensitive cities, net-zero carbon energy systems, resilient cities, healthy communities, and smart cities.
Faculty
Bioelectronics, synthetic biology, microbiology, electrochemistry, cell-material interfaces, biophysics, environmental sensing
Environmental Fluid Mechanics & Turbulence, Boundary-Layer Meteorology, Urban Climatology & Hydrology, Wind Energy
Innovative Structural Design For Earthquake, Fire, Storm Surge; Buckling Thin Plates; History And Art Of Structures
Complex Infrastructure Systems, Network Analysis, Graph Learning, Risk & Resilience Analysis, Computational Modeling, Digital Twin
Dr. Li’s research focuses on the mechanics and physics of…
Hurricane Hazards, Risk Analysis, Coastal Resilience, Climate Change Adaptation
Optical metamaterials; heat mitigation and sensing, radiative transfer across nanoscales, built environments, and the atmosphere
Energy/air quality/water/climate nexus; Impacts of energy choices; Atmospheric chemistry modeling
Architected Materials; Advanced and Additive manufacturing; Bio-inspired Design; Automated Robotic Fabrication
Sustainable infrastructure, cities, Food-Energy-Water Nexus, environmental modeling, science-policy linkages, India
Water-Energy Nexus; Environmental Technologies; Waste Treatment; Resource Recovery; Microbial Electrochemistry
Atmospheric Chemistry and Composition Group
