THE RISE OF DIGITAL TWINS
A Space Ripe for Innovation & Industry Collaboration
For decades, civil and environmental engineers have relied on digital models to assess and strengthen designs before they enter the physical world. Now, with improved sensing and computing technology, the way engineers use and maintain models is evolving, and a concept called digital twins is taking hold.
Fall 2022
Editor & Designer Mireille Mobley Contributors Daniel Carroll Rachel Mohr Handel Mireille Mobley Georgia SchumacherFor more news and information about CEE please visit us at: cmu.edu/cee
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As engineers, we are always reimagining—looking for newer, better solutions to problems that impact people across the globe. Here at CEE, our reimagining process is designed to build upon our mission to be a leader in engineering innovation and education and targets defining what our profession will entail in the future. In this issue, we will showcase new research that reinforces the significance of CEE's leadership in developing innovative digital twins of the built environment to support a variety of decisions.
The importance of digital twins cannot be understated for our discipline. Every building is unique in not only its design and location, but also its utilization. Even the same systems, e.g., same air handling units, within a building, can behave very differently depending on the spaces that they are serving. Without a digital twin, it would be difficult to generate different scenarios under which a facility could be operating and analyzing the data collected from sensors could lead to misguided results.
Digital twins are high-fidelity models that depict the as-is conditions of a built environment, informed by sensing and computing technology. They enable simulations of different phenomenon in the built environment. In our department, we not only do research on developing and utilizing digital twins, but also integrate them to several classroom activities.
Our program is pioneering the use of this technology in our courses—one of two programs in the nation utilizing the ASCE’s virtual world in the classroom. As the digital twin article highlights, we have many faculty members working on developing and utilizing digital twins in support of many decisons both on earth--such as optimizing equipment and vehicle maintenance, increasing worker safety, improving urban mobility, supporting sustainable and equitable food delivery, and in space--such as supporting smart habitats.
We are also looking ahead to future needs within the industry, launching the new Master of Science in AI Engineering program. Building upon our strong foundation in computation and information technology, this degree trains engineers to develop and apply AI-based solutions within an engineering context.
At the core of our reimagining process is a goal to become even more connected locally and globally as we target addressing the most pressing issues that societies face. I want to encourage you to stay connected to CEE. Visit us the next time you are in Pittsburgh. Tell us about your work. Share your ideas as we all reimagine and define the future of the CEE discipline.
BURCU AKINCI The Paul Christiano Professor CEE Department Head
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
THE RISE OF DIGITAL TWINS 2
With improved sensing and computing technology, the way engineers use and maintain models is evolving, and a concept called digital twins is taking hold.
ANALYZING WASTE PIT CONTAMINANTS 6
Professor Greg Lowry is using robots to increase both safety and speed in the remediation process.
AI IN CEE MS STORY 9
CMU’s new Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence Engineering (MS AIE) combines the fundamentals of artificial intelligence and machine learning with engineering domain knowledge.
AKINCI SETS A PATH FOR THE FUTURE 11
When newly appointed CEE Department Head Burcu Akinci looks at the modern world and its future, she sees civil and environmental engineering at the center.
Professor Jerry Wang recently published new insights into modeling and understanding the inner workings of active-matter systems. STUDENTS EXPLORE THE FUTURE WITH MEGA CITY 2070 15 As we look to the future, this much is certain: the cities of today will not be the cities of tomorrow.
THE RISE OF DIGITAL TWINS
A SPACE RIPE FOR INNOVATION & INDUSTRY COLLABORATION
For decades, civil and environmental engineers have relied on digital models to assess and strengthen designs before they enter the physical world. Now, with improved sensing and computing technology, the way engineers use and maintain models is evolving, and a concept called digital twins is taking hold.
How individuals define the term varies, but most agree that a digital twin is a model that, as much as possible, aligns with current conditions. “We don’t just use our digital model for design and forget about it,” says Mario Bergés, one of many CEE faculty working with digital twins. “We acquire information about the physical structure or system and modify the model so that it reflects what's actually happening during its life cycle.”
The second piece is that digital twins are tools for analysis and simulation. They guide real-world decisions and actions. “The data feeds from the physical to the digital, and the digital provides an environment within which we can generate
scenarios,” explains CEE Department Head Burcu Akinci. “A digital twin allows us to replicate what is happening in different environments and conditions, learn from it, make predictions, and eventually control what happens in the physical world.”
Collaborating with industry leaders while combining infrastructure, data analysis, and computing expertise, CEE faculty are working on numerous digital twin projects. Their research aims to predict and prevent vehicle and equipment failures, maintain smart habitats in space, and optimize the safety, equity, and sustainability of various infrastructure systems.
“Our department is leading important research around generating, maintaining, and utilizing digital twins to support many critical decisions proactively,” says Akinci. “Depending on which domain it originated from, digital twins get referred to as an information repository or physics-based simulations, amongst other things. We are embodying and bringing together all of these different thoughts across many research areas within CEE.”
OPTIMIZING EQUIPMENT AND VEHICLE MAINTENANCE
Among the work underway is a project with CEE faculty Mario Bergés and Katherine Flanigan to drive proactive, intelligent maintenance for a range of US Army assets and aviation equipment. They are developing a method for combining AI with data-driven and physics-based models to predict likely equipment failures and the underlying problems that need to be addressed.
“To date, while digital twins can represent physical bases, their integration with AI solutions and scalability to complex systems is not yet realized,” Flanigan explains.
Combining the two could unlock multiple benefits. While some predictions can be made by AI and machine learning alone, a digital twin could expedite AI training and enable AI to extrapolate beyond situations for which documented experiences and data exist. Integrating digital models into the AI system should also allow the platform to more clearly show the reasoning behind predictions and recommendations.
In a similar vein, CEE faculty member Pingbo Tang is exploring how digital twins could inform commercial vehicle inspection and maintenance. Partnering with vehicle safety technology providers CompuSpections and Truck-Lite, Tang
is building a fleet deterioration model using historical vehicle records and real-time inspection data. The resulting model could reveal strategies for operating fleets with fewer costs, improved mobility, and less idling, not only saving companies money but also reducing emissions of greenhouse gasses and other pollutants.
SUPPORTING SMART HABITATS AND BUILDING OPERATIONS
As part of a NASAfunded project, faculty members Mario Bergés and Burcu Akinci are designing systems for a smart habitat that supports life in deep space. The habitat will rely heavily on autonomous technologies, including detecting and fixing faults and predicting the impacts of anything that goes wrong. Of course, planning for every scenario is impossible.
“If I tell a robot, ‘Here are the specific solutions to fix these specific faults,’ it'll work up until any of my assumptions about what faults are or how to solve them fall apart,” says Bergés. “Say the temperature sensor shows that a room is very hot and then you take corrective action, but really the power to that sensor was awry so the readings were wrong. That's a situation that we can't anticipate entirely.”
To address new and unexpected issues, autonomous technologies will need to
reason through what is happening and how to fix it. Doing that will require knowledge of the principles of physics as well as detailed knowledge of the habitat, including its composition and how each piece of technology behaves. “All of that context and domain knowledge should be embedded in the digital twin,” Bergés explains.
“To actually make this habit smart, there needs to be a thread that ties everything together,” adds Akinci. “That's where the digital twin comes in.”
Akinci and Bergés are also collaborating on a project with ANSYS using the company’s digital twin platform. For that project, CEE’s Porter Hall is serving as a testbed for integrating ANSYS’ physics-based simulations with building data for facility operations, including issue diagnosis, prognosis, and selfcorrection.
INCREASING WORKER SAFETY & EFFICACY
While typical home construction produce significant waste, modular home construction offers an efficient, affordable, and sustainable alternative. However, creating houses and building components in busy, packed factories is complex, with many potential hazards. To help, faculty member Pingbo Tang is working with two manufacturers, Module and DMI Companies, to model human and machine behavior on production
lines. To do so, he is using factory field notes, videos, and control system logs. The finished digital twin platform will generate data-driven suggestions for improving human-machine efficiency, safety, and health as well as adjusting workspaces for new components and designs.
Analyzing human behavior and decision-making in operations is a theme across much of Tang’s work. For example, working with the Federal Aviation Administration and NASA’s Ames Research Center, he created a digital twin of the Los Angeles airport air traffic. That simulation is allowing researchers to study how air traffic controllers make decisions as well as how AI learning from data-driven airport operation simulations could help prevent future mistakes.
Elsewhere, Tang is modeling the actions of nuclear power plant workers with Arizona Public Services in the hopes of identifying what activities are essential during plant outages. Eventually, AI could learn from nuclear plants’ communication and operation histories and alert workers to take appropriate actions in similar contexts.
“My work is complementing machine learning with human learning. Can a machine observe and
as a case study. In that work, he is using data and algorithms to infer how people determine the need to travel, the destination, transportation mode, parking, and departure time. “We want to know not just how but why they’re using infrastructure,” says Qian. With this knowledge, cities could make changes that improve mobility, safety, emissions, and more.
learn when and why experienced human operators perform better than automatic control systems?” says Tang. “To model how intelligence systems should help humans in these complex situations, we need algorithms for capturing and analyzing human behavior together with machine behavior.”
Faculty member Sean Qian's research on "improving urban mobility, emissions, and infrastructure systems working," involves large-scale dynamic network modeling and data analytics for transportation systems. In a recent collaboration with Honda USA, he replicated the flow of individual, ridesharing, and public transit vehicles through Columbus, Ohio. Now, he is using that digital twin to analyze the impact of increased electric vehicle usage on power grids and mobility systems as well as develop strategies to mitigate loads to both systems.
Qian is also modeling how people and traffic move through cities for a project with the technology company Fujitsu, using the Washington DC metro area
Additionally, the model includes things like event traffic, accidents, and extreme weather to provide information for response and resource allocation plans. “Say we set the digital twin so that an incident on the highway closes two lanes at 4 pm. We may assume a fraction of people learn about it from their smartphones and others have no idea what's going on,” says Qian. “The simulation can show what happens if we focus on dispatching response teams faster. Maybe we invest in rerouting people and disseminating accurate, timely information. We might tune nearby signal timing. Once we know how people respond in these situations, these levels can all be examined in the digital twin.”
FINDING SUSTAINABLE AND EQUITABLE FOOD DELIVERY MODELS
Another faculty member modeling city systems is Corey Harper, working with CEE faculty Greg Lowry, Destenie Nock, and Costa Samaras, along with faculty from two other departments.
Their partners include the Puget Sound Regional Council, grocery chain Giant Eagle, and driverless vehicle solution provider Easy Mile. Together, the team is using digital twins as a virtual testbed for simulating environmental, equity,
and traffic impacts of food delivery systems that use trucks, sidewalk robots, and aerial drones. For example, they are using a Seattle traffic model to examine how different delivery strategies, adoption levels, and shopping patterns would change regional emissions and traffic. The team also created a tool for modeling individual intersections when a more microscopic focus is needed.
“From the equity side, we’re looking at things like which areas and populations would experience congestion and emissions increases,” Harper explains. “How do different demographic groups and people with different incomes feel about food delivery?”
Once complete, the group’s work could shape policies for safe, sustainable, and equitable delivery. Companies could also use the tools to test how different delivery models would affect cost, food access, energy use, emissions, and profitability within neighborhoods.
BRINGING TOGETHER EXPERTISE AND INDUSTRIES
For Harper, having an interdisciplinary team has been essential to building a robust digital twin that considers everything from equity to delivery optimization. “It would be hard for any one of us to do this alone,” he says. “The collaboration makes for a digital twin that can answer really interesting questions.” He is far from the only faculty member
Creating Glacial Models to Inform Climate Action
Recent and anticipated future changes in the earth’s glaciers have major implications for sea level rise, flooding, and the availability of water resources. CEE faculty member David Rounce and his research team are working to refine models that demonstrate and predict the response of glaciers, water resources, and hazards due to a changing climate. Their computational models incorporate data from field visits,
images, and
Electric autonomous vehicles that deliver goods from stores to customers' homes. (Image: Nuro)
Rounce’s team is currently partnering with NASA on two projects, including one to improve projections of how glaciers will contribute to sea-level rise through 2100. Ultimately, Rounce hopes their work will help to support more proactive decision-making and policies for local, regional, and global climate adaptations and mitigation.
who values a collaborative, big-picture approach. “A lot of people are thinking about digital twins for very specific purposes, but ultimately we need to integrate all those things together,” says Mario Bergés. “A digital twin that only answers one specific question will not get us very far.”
Already, Sean Qian has been working to bring together crossindustry partners for sharing research progress and data
and producing digital twins that match our interconnected world. Autonomous vehicles and smart buildings, he points out, rely on wireless networks. Electric vehicle use impacts the power grid. Large events not only slow traffic, but also strain cellular towers.
“To enlarge our broader impact, we need partners across the ecosystem. By bringing sectors together, we can build better digital twins of mobility, energy, power, internet of things, wireless communication, everything,” says Qian. “CEE’s expertise in computing and infrastructure places us in a central role for connecting all of these domains.”
ANALYZING WASTE PIT CONTAMINANTS
When fossil fuels are extracted from the earth, byproducts of their processing are left behind in vast waste “pits.” To identify possible contamination and plan for remediation, people took samples from these pits—collecting them by hand while navigating difficult terrain and hazardous conditions. In the best scenario, a person could safely and efficiently collect three to five samples from a large site in one day. The analysis and results could take much longer to receive.
Professor Greg Lowry is using robots to increase both safety and speed in the remediation process. He is working to develop terrestrial robots that can potentially autonomously explore natural environments, select sample locations, extract samples, and analyze the data online without exposing humans to hazardous conditions.
“The scope of our job is to build robots that drive around autonomously and take measures of contaminants from the oil and gas industries,” he says.
The robots—which can use X-ray fluorescence detectors to identify contaminants, such as salt concentration, drive themselves into areas that are difficult for humans to access. They are also designed for difficult terrain—much like the Mars rovers.
This accessibility allows the robots to gather hundreds of samples from each pit, providing data points that create a much clearer picture of onsite contaminants and hotspots. “The robots collect a lot more data than people can, are more representative of the whole pit, and keep humans out of potentially risky situations,” says Lowry. “They also provide reliable data that leads to better management decisions.”
Lowry’s research is based on collaboration between teams working in sensing, sampling, mobility, and autonomy. His team works to build contaminant detectors that take and analyze samples. Another team of engineers create the technology that allows the robot to drive through tough terrain. “This group works on what the mobility platform looks like – everything
from wheels to ground clearance,” he adds.
The goal is for the robot to chart its own path, based on the information it’s received about the site. Lowry mentions that AI algorithms allow the robot to decide where to go next, given all of the samples it has already taken. “This minimizes uncertainty and allows the robot to collect a large number of samples in the least amount of time.”
He adds that robotic sampling has potential positive impacts outside of the oil and gas industries.
For example, if robots were able to sample vast areas of land after Hurricane Katrina, contaminated areas could have been identified and remediated much more quickly, allowing people back into towns and homes that remained closed
for years afterward.
A prototype robot has already been tested in collaboration with industry sponsor Chevron and the PA Infrastructure Technology Alliance.
Lowry adds that the team is continuing to test enhancements, such as LIDAR, to improve the robot’s function. While a roll-out of the robot is still up to five years away, it signals an important step in successfully remediating contaminants, leading to positive environmental impacts.
“If you own a contaminated site, you have to know what is there. But, the cost of sending people out to take samples is expensive and time consuming. This project creates a system that makes it much easier to identify contaminant distribution.”
New Master's Program: AI Engineering in CEE
As AI gets better, engineers need to take the next step. Carnegie Mellon University’s new Master of Science in Artificial Intelligence Engineering (MS AIE) combines the fundamentals of artificial intelligence and machine learning with engineering domain knowledge and culminates in an integrated capstone project — in other words, the rare know-how to develop and apply AI-based solutions within an engineering context.
“I’m excited to see the transformations that will happen to our profession once these students have graduated and taken on the workforce,” says Professor Mario Bergés. “This new generation of engineers will not only be able to master AI tools, but also to recognize how they can leverage engineering domain knowledge to extend them to be more practical and powerful.”
The program — first of its kind in the nation — trains students to truly integrate AI into practical solutions to Civil and Environmental Engineering problems — capabilities/talents that are currently not addressed by either computer science or traditional engineering disciplines alone.
“This program is unique in that it acknowledges the fact that engineers in the future will need to make use of and develop innovations in AI as part of their toolbox when formulating solutions to the problems they face,” says Bergés.
MS AIE core courses cover the
fundamentals of machine learning along with the systems and toolchains needed to work with AI systems.
“Aside from those fundamentals, students can choose from a broad set of elective courses and a capstone project course that allow them to concentrate on specific sub-disciplines of civil and environmental engineering and learn to leverage AI solutions in these contexts,” says Bergés.
The program also teaches students to embrace the ethics or policy considerations which are crucial in
solutions-driven fields like engineering.
As MS AIE graduates, they are set to have the upper hand when they apply for high-demand careers within the Civil and Environmental Engineering field.
“With these skills, graduates would be able to pursue innovative career paths in areas such as intelligent transportation systems, structural health monitoring, facilities management and environmental data analysis, to name a few,” says Bergés.
More specific examples of industry positions in these fields include advanced analytics research scientist, deep learning research engineer, senior 3D process engineer, and senior engineer.
This program is unique in that it acknowledges the fact that engineers in the future will need to make use of and develop innovations in AI as part of their toolbox.
When newly appointed CEE Department Head Burcu Akinci looks at the modern world and its future, she sees civil and environmental engineering at the center.
“From the earliest days, we have not just shaped the way the world looks but impacted the resources that people and infrastructure consume,” she says. “We influence the social environment too. We contribute positively or negatively to social justice by providing opportunities to communities to come together or be divided through the bridges or roadways we build in between. Everything we do has a huge, multidimensional impact.”
There is no other field Akinci can think of where someone can make such an impact for such a long period of time. It is this passion for civil and environmental engineering—and for the culture of innovation and collaboration inside this department—that makes her so excited to take the helm of the CEE department.
Since joining the department 22 years ago, Akinci has led and contributed to significant progress and growth in the field, including serving as Associate Dean for Research of the College and conducting research on new tools and
Akinci Sets a Path for the Future
methods for streamlining construction and facility/ infrastructure operations and management processes.
Settling into her new role, Akinci sees her key priority as enabling the department to work toward its strategic vision of reimagining civil and environmental engineering. As the world grapples with climate impacts and social and environmental injustices, the field appears on the cusp of a major change, and Akinci is confident that the CEE department is designing a way forward.
“That focus towards how we transform our field for the better is inspiring and it makes this department very special,” she says. “We also have excellent faculty, staff, and students, and they really enjoy working with and being around each other. You couldn't ask for a better environment.”
I see our department leading not only through visionary thinking and the use of new technologies, but also by exemplifying, for other departments and for the communities we work with, all of the ways that we can embrace diversity, equity and inclusiveness and create a more equitable and sustainable world.
commitment to innovation and engagement with communities. Incorporated into all of Akinci’s plans is an emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). As founding chair of the ASCE Taskforce on Fostering Inclusive Academic Communities and co-chair of CEE’s DEI Committee, Akinci is passionate about creating a culture of belonging for all.
By holistically embedding these values into everything from research activities and course design to vendor selection, she believes that CEE is equipping students to be leaders and change agents who will promote diversity, equity and inclusion across their careers.
To help the department achieve its goals, Akinci is focused on preserving CEE’s existing collegial, collaborative and interdisciplinary culture, and maintaining and growing the department’s
“We are in a position as the field, and also the department, to reimagine what civil and environmental engineering is going to look like a decade from now or more,” she says. “I see our department leading not only through visionary thinking and the use of new technologies, but also by exemplifying, for other departments and for the communities we work with, all of the ways that we can embrace diversity, equity and inclusiveness and create a more equitable and sustainable world.”
Fakhreddine Joins CEE as Assistant Professor
Sarah Fakhreddine recently joined CEE as an Assistant Professor, bringing to the department a background in both engineering and earth sciences.
Fakhreddine’s area of expertise is focused on developing approaches to improve the resilience of freshwater supplies to climate change and population growth. She will officially start in the department January 2023.
Her teaching style emphasizes explaining topics in ways that prioritize an active, adaptive learning environment. Her priority is to keep students engaged—by dividing up lectures with exercises like demos, group activities, and interactive example problems.
She seeks to foster a supportive learning
Remembering Tung Au
Dr. Tung Au, emeritus professor in the Carnegie Mellon Civil and Environmental Engineering and Engineering and Public Policy Departments, passed away on May 31, 2022 at 98 years old. Au served on the faculty with great distinction from 1957 until retiring in 1992.
In his 35 years with CEE, Dr. Au touched the lives of many CEE students, staff members, and fellow instructors.
The CEE Tung Au Lab in Porter Hall, a flexible educational facility and the central meeting space for CEE events, was dedicated in honor of Dr. Au in October 1988.
Au was an internationally recognized researcher and engineering educator.
and research environment that enables students to achieve their academic and career goals. “In an environmental engineering context, my goals are to provide students the broader context of the environmental challenges we face and the technical skills and training to address those challenges.”
A graduate of Stanford University, Fakhreddine completed her post doc research at the University of Texas at Austin. “I studied strategies to store excess water underground in depleted groundwater aquifers as a way to balance disconnects between water supply and demand,” she says. Fakhreddine explains that during wet periods, floodwater could be stored in aquifers and recovered during times of drought to offset variability in water availability.
One of her current research topics focuses on understanding the fundamental geochemical process that controls water quality in order to design aquifer storage strategies that prevent contamination of water supplies and protects human and ecosystem health.
Now that she is relocated to Pittsburgh, Fakhreddine is excited to explore the region’s parks and museums. She is also a theater fan and is ready to experience the active theater community within CMU.
As a CEE faculty member, Au taught and conducted research across a spectrum of topics in civil engineering, with deep expertise in applied mechanics, structural engineering, systems analysis and design, and construction project management. Au was the author or co-author of seven books and received numerous honors throughout his career.
Au received his BS degree in Civil Engineering from St. John’s University in China in 1943. Following graduation he was involved with designing a new airfield in China for the American Air Force Group, better known as the "Flying Tigers." After World War II, Au immigrated to the U.S. and earned his MS and PhD degrees in Civil
Engineering from the University of Illinois in 1948 and 1951. He worked as a structural engineer in consulting firms in Detroit, Michigan for several years before joining the Civil Engineering faculty at the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon) in 1957.
The CEE Department extends its condolences to the friends and family of Dr. Au. We fondly remember his time with Carnegie Mellon and know that he will be missed by many.
Understanding Active Matter Unlocks New Material Properties
CEE Assistant Professor Jerry Wang and Mechanical Engineering PhD student Arman
Ghaffarizadeh recently published new insights into modeling and understanding the inner workings of active-matter systems. Though ubiquitous throughout natural (and, in some cases, synthetic) systems, “active matter” is a relatively new categorization of matter that describes particles with the ability to convert stored or ambient energy into motion. When introduced to a system, active matter harvests energy and begins to move.
The term refers to systems that can be either biological or artificial, ranging from the self-organizing components of a living cell to synthetic colloids that react to light with movement. When added to an ordinary material, active particles can change the properties and behavior of that material.
“Any time you have an active fluid, you have a dial that you can use to change its transport properties,” said Wang. “What’s exciting about active particles is that you can change the transport properties of an existing fluid simply by adding an active component and adjusting its level of activity.”
This offers the versatility in design to fine-tune the properties of existing fluids, ultimately increasing their performance and range of applications. However, researchers must first be able to define the properties of active fluids and predict their behavior as energy is added or removed, ideally without exhaustive testing in a lab setup.
Wang and Ghaffarizadeh set out to define predictive and theoretically grounded techniques for describing transport
in these active-matter systems. They performed a series of simulations of a model active-matter system, studying its properties as the number of active particles and their level of activity were changed. The relations hip they observed between fluid structure and transport in their active-matter system closely resembled a similar relationship for inactive matter, called excess entropy scaling.
What’s exciting about active particles is that you can change the transport properties of an existing fluid simply by adding an active component and adjusting its level of activity.
Excess entropy is a measure of the difference between the entropy of a system and its maximum possible entropy, in the state of an ideal gas. Excess entropy scaling describes an exponential relationship between the excess entropy of a system and the system’s diffusivity, a critical quantity for fluids engineering that measures how quickly particles wander within a system through small random movements. With Wang and Ghaffarizadeh’s model, researchers would only need to know some basic thermodynamic details about a system and its constituent makeup to determine its transport properties.
This research could save researchers significant time and effort as they explore applications for active matter. For example, heat transfer fluids move heat from one area of a system to another, and include substances like coolants and a variety of oils. The addition of active matter could alter properties like viscosity or thermal diffusion within these common compounds, allowing for improved performance and versatility.
Nock Awarded Sloan Foundation Grant
Assistant Professor Destenie Nock was recently awarded funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to conduct a multiyear project to examine how household energy insecurity is experienced by different demographic groups at the state and national levels. This grant funds a study by a multidisciplinary team of scholars, led by Nock, that will deploy various research methodologies to examine three aspects of household energy insecurity across multiple states.
The first aspect is to better understand the energy-limiting behavior often employed by marginalized and lowincome households to better afford energy services. By analyzing detailed household energy use data the team will further develop a new energy insecurity metric—called the “energy equity gap.”
Next, the team will undertake a case study examining the effectiveness of the
Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, the Weatherization Assistance Program, and other state-level programs designed to help low-income households pay their energy bills. Team members will analyze over a decade’s-worth of household data to identify the extent that eligible households do or do not take advantage of these programs.
Finally, the team will develop a publicly available dashboard of utility disconnection policies from across the country to enable researchers to begin to compare and analyze intra- and inter-state differences in such policies and their subsequent effects on energy insecurity.
This research hopes to strengthen utility decision-making and public policy around energy poverty and insecurity, particularly among underserved communities. The team’s household-
Ozis Helps to Organize ASEE’s Annual Conference
Assistant Teaching Professor Fethiye Ozis assisted in coordinating The American Society for Engineering Education’s annual conference. The event brought together engineering educators from across the globe in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Ozis serves as a division chair for the organization’s environmental engineering division and helped to oversee and facilitate the conference’s activities, technical sessions and business meetings. She says her goal was to “have a productive and engaging conference, reach a wider audience, and collaborate between divisions.”
Ozis adds that she has been interested in working with the conference for nearly a decade because it brings together “everybody who cares about how we are
educating and turning people into engineers.” While Covid prevented the conference from happening in 2020 and 2021, this year had a large attendance and focused on Excellence Through Diversity.
The message flowed through each of the discussions, presentations, and roundtables, says Ozis.
Carnegie Mellon University also served as an event sponsor, shining a spotlight on the university’s dedication to integrating DEI into the classroom.
“We talked about how to be more
level analysis can better help utilities forecast demand and the associated uncertainties due to disruptions such as COVID. Second, by working closely with an advisory board, Nock and her fellow researchers hope to positively impact policy for institutional reforms that can support reducing household energy insecurity during energy transition periods.
accepting and how to become better at embracing diversity,” she mentions. Ozis also added to a “living wall” at the conference to further promote all that CMU is doing to acknowledge and embrace inclusivity both on and off of campus.
Students Explore the Future with Mega City 2070
As we look to the future, this much is certain: the cities of today will not be the cities of tomorrow. By 2070, many cities will hold massive populations while facing limited energy resources and evolving climate change impacts. To ensure quality of life and wellbeing, buildings, outdoor spaces, and entire neighborhoods must be reimagined sooner rather than later, with civil engineers creating and deploying solutions that keep individuals and communities safe and healthy.
“We need to think now about making designs flexible and adaptable to handle these challenges,” says Associate Professor Pingbo Tang. “If civil engineers don't look at what the climate, population, and energy sources will be in 50 years, what we build will become obsolete very quickly, leading to future expense and waste.”
These considerations are at the forefront of Tang’s Building Information Modeling for Engineering, Construction, and Facility Management graduate course, where this year’s students participated in a pilot program of software called Mega City 2070.
Created by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) based on extensive research, Mega City 2070 immerses users in a realistic 3D model of a city that's home to 50 million people in the year 2070. As students tour this futuristic and interconnected built environment, they can delve into articles, reports, videos, and discussions regarding transportation; construction and materials; energy and utilities; structure and architecture; and water, waste, and environment.
“By observing the systems and structures in this platform, students
see the very big challenges that cities with such high populations will face,” says Tang. “Looking at these animated and realistic scenarios helps them visually think through different situations, potential solutions, and what technology will work in a realworld city.”
In Tang’s course, teams of students first spent time exploring Mega City 2070 before selecting and analyzing an infrastructure case study in the city and its related technical challenges. Students then identified opportunities to address those problems using various sensing and computing technologies.
For example, several teams researched how to apply modular construction and deconstruction techniques to address housing shortages and temporary housing needs. One group created biophilic designs that would bring more light and plant life into workspaces and reduce employee stress. Yet another team proposed multipurpose roofs optimized for drone landings, solar panels, and farming. At the end of the term, each team presented models and simulations of their solutions applied in
a real city. For students, the project showcased the interconnected nature of cities and infrastructure systems. “They learn, if I design this way, that's how it will influence construction. That's how it will influence the operation of the building,” says Tang. “Those experiences prepare students to make decisions with consideration for the bigger picture.”
The course also highlighted the immense value of computing for everything from modeling infrastructure, to collecting information from sensors, to analyzing data to improve performance and inform policy. “Mega City triggers students to ask how civil engineers can use more sophisticated tools to discover, define, and solve problems,” Tang asserts. “We are equipping students to act as a bridge between civil engineering and computer science to benefit our future cities.”
As consumers, we’ve gotten used to the immediacy of deliveries. Order a product one day and have it at your house the next. But, the logistics behind this massive movement of goods—and its environmental impact—mean that better solutions need to be implemented to balance consumer demand and the energy consumption of “last-mile” deliveries.
Drones for Efficient Last-Mile Deliveries
To address this issue, Professor Costa Samaras and PhD candidate Thiago Rodrigues researched what they refer to as “an increase in the demand for last-mile delivery while trying to reduce the environmental impacts of the transportation sector.” Their work, titled “Drone flight data reveal energy and greenhouse gas emissions savings for very small package delivery,” was published in the August issue of Patterns.
Rodrigues explains that many companies are exploring using autonomous vehicles to perform last-mile delivery. “We focused on understanding the impacts on the energy consumption and GHG emissions of this transformation in how we deliver packages,” he says.
The team learned that both payload mass and total flight duration were the main contributors to the drone’s overall energy consumption. “For small packages with high aggregated value, such as medical supplies and electronics, the quadcopter drones showed a considerably low energy consumption
per mile traveled compared to other transportation modes.”
Surprisingly, according to Rodrigues, drone speed and wind speeds had little impact on the drone’s overall energy consumption.
Rodrigues concluded that for last-mile deliveries, adopting quadcopter drones for small package deliveries could result in substantial energy savings while lessening greenhouse gas emissions.
“Drones can have up to 94% lower energy consumption per package than other vehicles.” He adds that the overall amount of emissions reduction depends on the intensity of the electricity grid in an area. “Regions with cleaner electricity would benefit more from adopting drones to transport small packages.”
While the research team determined multiple benefits in utilizing small drones, Rodrigues admits that there are still operational and regulatory challenges that need to be addressed
before drone deliveries become a reality. “However, a few drone delivery operations are already being implemented, with medical supplies and even groceries being safely delivered by drones. These operations are leading the way in expanding the use of drones in all last-mile delivery sectors.”
These successful operations may make the prospect of drone delivery more enticing to consumers. Rodrigues believes that people are already receptive to the idea, stating that in a recent study, more than 60% of online customers said they would be willing to pay extra to receive their packages using autonomous delivery robots.
There is also the issue of larger packages, which cannot be delivered by small drones. Rodrigues suggests that electric cargo bicycles and other ground autonomous delivery robots could be an energy-efficient way to get these items to customers.
This study is a major research output of previous research led by Samaras and Professor Sean Qian. Their work contained a comprehensive analysis of how drones, autonomous vehicles, robots, and intelligently managed infrastructure may improve cost and energy efficiency of the first- and lastmile of goods transportation.
CMU Takes First Place at NASA Aeronautics Competition
A CMU team comprised of current MS student Ashima Sharma (BS '22) and other CMU students took first place in the inaugural Gateways to Blue Skies Competition. Their project titled, Sustainability and Connected Autonomy: A New Era for Aviation, presented a climate-friendly airport integration concept.
Sponsored by NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, the Gateways to Blue Skies Competition is an initiative to engage college students in researching climate-friendly technologies and applications that will establish a net-zero emissions future for aviation. The winning team was awarded an opportunity to intern at any of the four NASA Aeronautics Centers.
Wells Named Steinbrenner Institute and Heinz Presidential Fellow
The Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research at CMU has selected Albin Wells as a Steinbrenner Research Fellow.
He is researching how glaciers in Alaska are responding to climate change by developing robust approaches rooted in field measurements to improve largescale systematic remote sensing and modeled data products of glaciers. Better insight into the numerous processes driving present-day glacier mass loss in Alaska will enhance projections of future mass loss; this has critical implications for water resources, natural hazards, and sea-level rise.
Kagdi Named The Higher Education Climate Consortium Fellow
The Higher Education Climate Consortium (HECC) has selected Labdhi Kagdi as one of two fellows to help advance the collaborative Consortium and support its 2022 strategic planning effort.
Kagdi is a PhD student in Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) and received her BE in Environmental Engineering from Lalbhai Dalpatbhai College of Engineering, India.
Kagdi is still working out her research project but is looking at potential green practices across the universities and their carbon emissions over the years.
Recent PhD Theses
MATTHEW BATTIFARANO - System-level Impact and Behavior of Coordinated Vehicle Fleets in Transportation Networks Advisor: Sean Qian
GARRET BLAND - Chemical Fingerprinting for the Detection, Classification, and Transformation of Engineered and Incidental Nanomaterials in Environmental Systems Advisor: Greg Lowry
ANA CACERES - Hydropower Vulnerability in a Changing Climate: Characterizing Future Risks in the Global South Advisor: Paulina Jaramillo (joint EPP)
BINGQING CHEN - Towards Safe and Sample-efficient Learning for Autonomous Energy Systems Advisor: Mario Bergés
MINA KARIMI - Bayesian Inference of Poroelastic Properties from Induced Seismicity Data Using an Energy-based Poromechanics Model Advisors: Matteo Pozzi & Kaushik Dayal
SHUO LI Value of Information and Evolution Prediction for Sequential Infrastructure Management Advisor: Matteo Pozzi
ALLANTÉ WHITMORE - Integrating Shared Autonomous Mobility into the U.S. Transportation System: An Equity, Economic, Ethical, and Environmental Assessment Advisor: Costa Samaras (joint EPP)
ZHUORAN ZHANG - Estimating and Mitigating Work Zone Impacts on Crash Risks: Causal Inference with High-granular Observational Data Advisors: Burcu Akinci & Sean Qian
Torres’ Tesla Internship Solidifies Passion for Engineering
Clara Torres is one of the few people in the world who can say they have performed structural analysis on GigaTexas, the Tesla Gigafactory.
Torres spent her summer 2022 internship at the giant campus, analyzing steel structures including platforms, pipe supports, mezzanines and different renovations to existing and new industrial, manufacturing, and office facilities.
She also created design drawings, plans, and schedules using Revit and reviewed shop drawings to reduce/eliminate potential mistakes. “I collaborated with multidisciplinary project teams including mechanical, electrical, piping/plumbing, and architectural to optimize designs, avoid interferences between all the different systems, and to mitigate design changes,” Torres adds.
She learned about the internship opportunity through SHPE (Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers) at Carnegie Mellon. “Last year, I got the opportunity to attend the annual SHPE convention hosted in Orlando, Florida.”
While there, Torres waited patiently in line to talk with the representatives from Tesla, who suggested that she would be a good fit for one of the company’s summer internship positions. She followed the application process and was excited to be selected for the program.
Torres says that her education at CEE helped to prepare her for a smooth transition between school and the internship. “CEE showed me how to tackle real-life problems in structural engineering, transportation, geotechnical, and hydraulics. It also helped me to develop teamwork, interpersonal skills, and leadership skills.”
She adds that she used the “exceptional critical thinking skills” gained in the CEE program, which assisted her in solving complex problems in a fastpaced environment. “Time management and prioritization played a very important role [in my work].”
A native of Colombia, Torres eagerly joined the Latinos at Tesla community that included people from her home country as well as Mexico, Chile, and Brazil. She also had the opportunity to explore Austin, San Marcos, and San Antonio.
Torres states that her internship experience piqued an interest in exploring the intersection between technology, engineering, and design. She adds that internships are rewarding, challenging, and provide connections that last beyond the summer. “Getting to work with brilliant minds is amazing!”
Hunter Lawrence (BS ’18) has a fascination for the aesthetics of roller coasters. She grew up riding the coasters at Kennywood Park in Pittsburgh. And she worked at the park as a ride operator for two summers–cementing her interest in the engineering and architecture behind wooden roller coasters.
Mixing Engineering, Architecture, and Wooden Coasters
As a CEE student, Lawrence took the reins of the Roller Coaster StuCo from the graduating individual who’d started it. “I taught it for six semesters. It gave me a reason to keep up with what was happening in the industry—plus, I knew the Public Relations people at Kennywood. They would give the classes tours and let us stay in the park,” she says. Lawrence also brought in guest speakers, including alumnus Brian Ondrey (ECE '95) who co-runs a company that builds control systems for roller coasters.
Lawrence adds that her minor in Architecture provided the connection to wooden coasters. “I’m drawn to them because the structures can be designed in a beautiful way.” She is also more interested in smaller, locally-focused amusement parks like Kennywood.
She began working with Great Coasters International right after graduation. Realizing that the industry was very competitive—especially for such specialized jobs—she networked heavily while still in school and was in the “right place at the right time” when the company was looking for an engineer. “These companies are very small and there are rarely openings. I had considered staying on for the Integrated Masters program but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to work for Great Coasters.”
She eventually transitioned to a position
at The Gravity Group, Great Coasters International’s main competitor. There, she works as an engineer in manufacturing, managing an inventory of parts, inspecting trains, drafting and programming the company's new Engineered Precut Track, and helping to make projects flow smoothly.
Lawrence explains that bringing joy to others is a perk of the job. “Seeing people on the rides—or seeing rides open back up—really makes me feel like I’m doing something that is affecting someone’s day. I feel lucky that I’ve gotten to have these opportunities.”
She adds that CEE helped to pave her path to success, teaching her how to multitask, problem solve, handle stress, and find balance in her life. CEE also showed Lawrence how to become a strong communicator. “Sometimes engineers get lost in the calculation aspect of things. Throughout my years at CEE, the importance of strong communication skills was really emphasized.”
Lawrence mentions that the path to a career in the amusement industry can be bumpy—but is worth it in the end. “I always tell students that you just can’t get down on yourself or feel too disappointed when there aren’t a lot of openings in the industry. A lot of it is luck. You have to have the qualifications and hold out for something to become available.”
Perlman Inducted into National Academy of Construction
Seth Perlman (CE BS ‘74, MS ‘79) has been named a new member of the National Academy of Construction in recognition of his leadership in ground improvement, environmental remediation, and soil investigation.
Perlman is the North American CEO and board director of Menard. He is responsible for Menard USA, Menard Canada, Earth Tech (Florida), Farrell Design-Build (California), and ConeTec. Seth joined Menard in 2003. He has served numerous organizations, serving as the president of the Deep Foundations Institute (DFI) from 20062008.
Recognized with numerous honors, he received the ASCE Geo-Institute Wallace Hayward Baker Award for achievements in ground improvement in 2020, the
ASCE Henry Michel Award for Research in Industry at the OPAL awards dinner in 2015, and alumni service awards from both Carnegie Mellon University and its Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Seth is a member of the Moles, ASCE, and the American Concrete Institute. He currently serves on the DFI Scholarship Trust Board, where he helps in establishing funding for university scholarships.
Senchur Steps into CEE Alumni Role
Randi Senchur was recently named CEE’s Office and Alumni Relations Administrator. She is been with the department for four years.
Senchur says that working with alumni is an exciting opportunity because “alumni are the foundation of CEE. They are part of the community that helps us to develop a new generation of civil and environmental engineers who are socially conscious problem-solvers.”
“Alumni contribute and engage
in many ways, including giving department seminars, participating in panels for student organizations, supporting things such as course projects, and through fellowships and student events.”
In her new position, Senchur hopes to restart in-person alumni events that have been halted due to the pandemic. She is hosting virtual Alumni Town Halls in Fall of 2022 and Spring of 2023, and is rebranding the CEE Student and Alumni Networking Group on LinkedIn to be a place where members can network, connect, celebrate, and share with each other.
She is also motivated to continue the successful CEE Undergraduate Mentorship Program, now in its
2023 Alumni Awards
CEE
Lt. Col. Christopher K. Raible Distinguished Public Service
Recent Alumna/us Achievement Please scan for more information or email msenchur@ andrew.cmu.edu
second year. The program matches a CEE alumni mentor with a CEE undergraduate seeking industry and professional experience. “The first year proved to be beneficial and rewarding for both the students and alumni,” she says, adding that she hopes to pair additional student/alumni mentor pairings for this academic year.
She said that her interest in cultivating relationships between students and alumni started when she was an undergrad working in a career center. “I really enjoyed seeing how students could benefit from those interactions with alumni.”
You can contact Randi Senchur with your news and updates at: msenchur@andrew.cmu.edu.
Fighting Energy Poverty Through Carbon-neutral Electricity Distribution
Kwaku Jyamfi (MS '20), chief executive officer at Farm to Flame Energy, is working to produce a low-cost energy solution for people who live in emerging areas of the world. His company creates clean, affordable energy from readilyavailable biomass waste.
The company is on track to create renewable on-site electricity at half of the cost of diesel fuel, according to Jyamfi. “The fuel completely combusts so there’s no smoke or odor—and minimal ash.”
The idea came to Jyamfi as an undergraduate student, where he met the company’s cofounder. Together they discussed a process patented by the co-founder’s family—a new way to pulverize agricultural waste. This led to talk about using the waste to power-up developing areas in Africa and India. Jyamfi was especially interested in the implications this could have in providing increased access to clean water— which is dependent upon energy-using filtration systems.
“Energy poverty is a problem across the globe,” Jyamfi says. Five years ago, he built a small prototype device on his porch and saw that the idea could work.
“This is a low-cost energy solution that can be a primary source of energy or a back-up.”
Jyamfi asserts that his company’s technology is more cost-efficient than generators that use solar, due to the high price (and low availability) of lithium ion batteries.
The company launched in 2018 and is now in a public funding campaign that’s fueling future investment and growth. Since its start, Farm to Flame Energy has won five entrepreneurship competitions, was awarded a New Jersey CSIT Seed grant, and secured an energy services contract with Georgia-Pacific, one of the country’s largest biomass electricity providers.
He adds that his experience at CEE was beneficial in helping him to achieve the goal of launching Farm to Flame Energy. “Professor Emeritus David Dzombak was very supportive of me. I worked full time while double-majoring at CMU.”
Jyamfi adds that he was excited to let his professors know that the prototype he had built near the end of his studies was awarded an EPA grant to be upscaled into a commercial unit.
Farm to Flame Energy also caught the attention of The Richard King Mellon Foundation, which chose to invest in response to the company’s technology and its social impact focus. “We plan to stay in Pittsburgh and really want to grow here and provide meaningful jobs,” adds Jyamfi.
Learn more about Kwaku Jyamfi’s carbonneutral electricity distribution company, Farm to Flame Energy,
“This is a low-cost energy solution that can be a primary source of energy or a back-up."
Immersive learning, a supportive community, and strong friendships are what Stephanie Emore describes as the foundation of her CMU experience. Emore, a 2016 graduate, is now employed by Clark Construction Group as a Project Manager and recently completed work on the tallest building in Bethesda, MD.
As she builds her career, Emore continues to stay connected to the university and is inspired to give back to support the next cohort of future engineers.
“I had such a great time at CEE,” she says. “The school was a great fit for me, not just academically, but also socially.” Emore explains that the friends she made in college are the reason that she keeps supporting the university. “We lived together, worked together, and took Uno breaks together. Everyone was always supportive and ready to hang out, do work, or study.”
The nurturing nature of her time at CEE included her connection to staff and faculty, who she describes as understanding and helpful. “They showed me that it is ok to ask questions; and helped me to build what I call the
CMU Mindset—‘you may not know the answer and it may be hard to find it, but here are the tools you need.’”
Emore uses these strategies in her current position, in what she calls her “non-traditional engineering career.” Currently, she is managing a project called National Landing, a two-tower build with over 800 apartments. She is focused helping team members, interacting with the owner and architects, and staying on schedule.
Emore proudly adds that she is living with her CMU roommate from sophomore year. She is also excited to have fellow students who had moved to California after graduation return to the east coast. These connections keep her rooted in the CMU community even when she is far from Pittsburgh. And they drive her giving to the college— knowing that she can help to support current students’ unique experiences at the university.
“I meet people in my career who had undergrad classes with 200 people in them. I had 26 people in my classes! It really benefitted me and it’s one of the reasons I chose CMU and continue to give back to it.”
“We lived together, worked together, and took Uno breaks together. Everyone was always supportive and ready to hang out, do work, or study.”
