From the department head
As we approach the end of another calendar year, I’m excited to share the latest updates from our Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) department at Carnegie Mellon University. This time of year invites reflection on the growth we’ve achieved together and the new paths we’ve forged.
Growth has been a constant theme for us at CEE, not only in our academic programs, but also in how we are redefining what it means to be a civil and environmental engineer in today’s world. Every year for the last three years, we’ve introduced new graduate programs that reflect the evolving landscape of our field. From our researchfocused M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering, to the M.S. in AI Engineering, and now our newest joint M.S. degree in Civil and Computing Engineering with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, we are adapting to offer students the skills they need to succeed after graduation.
In the spirit of adapting to our changing world, we are also excited to now offer online education through our new graduate certificate in AI Engineering – Digital Twins & Analytics. This program, designed for practicing engineers, underscores our commitment to continuous learning and upskilling, ensuring that our graduates remain at the forefront of industry advancements. With the support and guidance of our Industry Partners, we are staying ahead of the curve, offering programs that teach the most sought-after skills in today’s job market.
Our department’s emphasis on being nontraditional is more than just a philosophy; it’s a commitment to resilience and the leadingedge. We’re not just preparing our students for the challenges of today; we’re empowering them to shape the future of civil and environmental engineering.
As you read through this edition of our magazine, I hope you’ll feel the same sense of excitement that we do about our latest research, student successes, academic programs, and alumni accomplishments. Thank you for your continued support, and for being a part of our community’s growth and success.
Sincerely,
Burcu Akinci Hamerschlag University Professor and Department Head
WRITERS
Sarah
Sara Pecchia, Lynn
DESIGN
Debra
Toward improving rural mobility
For the 15% of the U.S. population living in rural areas, simple but essential trips like commuting to work, grocery shopping, or accessing healthcare have become more challenging and expensive in the past few decades. Hindered by sparse infrastructure and limited public transit options, rural populations rely heavily on single-purpose trips in personal vehicles, straining both wallets and energy reserves. Planned and unplanned traffic incidents also impact these trips substantially; due to limited route choices and possible destinations, travel time can increase exponentially or even make the trip unattainable completely.
Because these factors make travel more physically and financially burdensome, fundamental resources and services, like jobs, food, and healthcare, are inherently more inaccessible to rural populations. The 39,000 residents of Southwestern Pennsylvania’s Greene County know these struggles well; the region is a microcosm of the mobility plight facing rural America and an ideal test site for Carnegie Mellon’s rural access mobility platform (RAMP) initiative.
In 2020, the United States Department of Energy funded a team of researchers led by Sean Qian and the Mobility Data Analytics Center at Carnegie Mellon University studying ways to enhance mobility in rural areas. Four years and several models later, the RAMP pilot-program launched its real-world operation in Greene County, Pennsylvania to offer residents energy-efficient, affordable, and convenient transportation options, with the goal of replicating it across the country.
“Our team worked closely with members of the Greene County community, specifically Greene County residents, non-profits, Commissioners’ Offices, and faculty and students at Waynesburg University (WU). We began by conducting surveys and focus groups to identify community needs and the shortcomings of existing transportation options,” said Sean Qian, professor of civil and environmental engineering. “For example, we learned WU students had challenges shopping in the nearby department store, and local residents missed doctor’s appointments due to delay of paratransit. So, we developed RAMP, an on-demand service based on the population’s most desired destinations, and it takes real-
time trip requests throughout the County. ”
Available Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., RAMP operates three vehicles: one on a regular fixed route between two popular destinations and two offering on-demand services throughout the county, with extended service to Washington, PA and Morgantown, WV. Because some Greene County residents don’t have internet or cell phone service, users can request services through wi-fi on a computer or a landline and get matched with an on-demand driver to take them to their destination. These day-to-day operations are managed by nonprofit collaborator Blueprints, in addition to the coordination of local stakeholders with Waynesburg University.
The program also monitors traffic conditions in real-time by integrating existing data sources like the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s road condition reporting system and Waze to inform the trip information and optimize mobility.
“We are thrilled to be collaborating with our partners and using our research to address rural citizens’ mobility needs for enhanced quality of life, while taking into account energy efficiency and sustainability,” said Karen Lightman, executive director of Safety21, the U.S. Department of Transportation National University Transportation for Safety. “We’ve taken the lessons and learnings from the RAMP project to spin out a more ambitious multi-modal project throughout Appalachia. With funding we received from the Appalachian Regional Commission, we will further define how to scale this across other rural communities struggling with similar mobility issues to Greene County.”
The research team will collect user data on an ongoing basis throughout the pilot period to ensure the system continues to accomplish what the researchers intended: Providing a rural community with effective, affordable, accessible, and sustainable transportation.
“Incorporating travel demand characteristics and multi-source data into rural mobility service design has never been done before and, based on our pilot in Greene County, has enormous potential,” said Qian. “Our team plans to continue developing the technology and replicate this system in rural regions across the county.”
Studying Heterogeneous Materials Under Extreme Conditions
Kaushik Dayal, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, will lead a team of researchers looking at the behavior of heterogeneous materials through the Department of Defense’s Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program. The project aims to improve the resilience of defense-related materials under extreme conditions of stress and uncertainty.
The Department of Defense awards a team of researchers funding to develop energy-absorbing, structure-preserving materials that are more resilient under extreme loads.
The use of materials in military practices are crucial, yet often overlooked. From armor and combat vehicles, munitions and more, the strength of these technologies directly affect defense practices and the safety of our communities. Dayal’s team will explore shortcomings of existing research on average conditions and looking at the performance of materials under extreme situations. Coupling analysis of flaws with a material’s microstructure, and they will develop data-driven models to simulate possible challenges and ultimately guarantee trust in the material’s resilience.
“We know a lot about materials under average conditions,” said Dayal. “But in extreme conditions, when a load impacts a car, for example, it can cause damage far beyond the impact site. Current ways to predict how materials behave don’t take these effects into account. Going beyond current paradigms will enable the development of materials that absorb energy better, to protect passengers in cars from injury in an extreme event, for instance.”
This multi-thrust research project will look at brittle heterogeneous materials under dynamic conditions, including performance outcomes under extreme stress, nonlocal impact damage, and quantifying uncertainty in worstcase scenarios. Using modeling, computation, mathematical analysis, and experimental validation, the team will engineer a framework for materials to improve safety and protection.
Created in 1985, the MURI program awards highly-competitive grants funding multidisciplinary defense-related research projects. Some of the most impactful military advancements and technologies have been implemented through this program. In fiscal year 2024, the Army Research Office, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and Office of Naval Research selected 30 final projects to award this prestigious opportunity out of 276 total proposals in 25 diverse topic areas.
The team includes researchers from University of Colorado Boulder, University of Chicago, Louisiana State University, and University of Pennsylvania, all with interdisciplinary backgrounds and strong track-records supporting previous Department of Defense MURI projects. Team members have diverse areas of expertise, including nonlinear homogenization, multiscale analysis, surrogate modeling, disordered granular assemblies and networks, and multi-material heterogeneous systems.
Resilient design course tackles real-world infrastructure problems
Graduate-level course
To adequately serve society, today’s infrastructure must be built to adapt to rapid technological advancements and imminent global threats like climate change. Civil and environmental engineers are learning how to work with resilience at the forefront, constructing roads, bridges, and water systems that meet the needs of their community and withstand uncertain and complex future conditions.
The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University offers the Designing Resilient and Sustainable Infrastructure course to teach just that. Bringing together students from each of the department’s four focus areas of study –Intelligent Engineered Systems and Society, Climate-Resilient Environmental Systems and Technologies, Sustainable Energy and Transportation Systems, and Mechanics, Chemistry, and Materials – this graduate-level class fosters interdisciplinary collaboration to solve real-world infrastructure problems with a sustainable, resilient, and equitable solution.
“As civil engineers, we’re designing the
“This course requires students to think critically about how civil engineering designs interact with the natural and social environments.”
-Sarah Christian, Associate Teaching Professor
infrastructure that serves society. So, we have a responsibility to think holistically about the impact of our work on the world,” said Sarah Christian, associate teaching professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. “This course requires students to think critically about how our designs interact with the natural and social environments.”
Christian began the semester covering foundational concepts and analyzing case studies of infrastructure systems withstanding or failing in the face of climate stressors. Students researched analysis methods used to assess different aspects of sustainability and resilience and emerging technologies that showed potential in improving these traits. In the second half of the course, teams tackled design projects to address a real-world problem of their choice and develop a climate-resilient and
environmentally conscious solution.
One of the stand out projects, “Energy Generation for Malé,” was led by Willem Goedecke, a master’s student studying civil and environmental engineering. Inspired by his recent internship with Water Mission and his passion for energy infrastructure, Goedecke’s team proposed a floating aquatic solar farm to replace the island of Malé’s reliance on imported diesel fuel-powered energy. The design accounted for the island’s limited land space, dependance on mainland India for which travels are financially and environmentally strenuous, and the desire to preserve the bay’s surrounding endangered coral reef species.
“Due to its flexible and floating design, the solar farm can withstand related threats like sea-level rise. It is also more sustainable, as offgrid solar farms drastically reduce carbon emissions and require little maintenance,” Goedecke explained. “This solution would empower Malé to be more independent and resilient to future uncertainties.”
At the conclusion of the course, the teams presented their ideas and discussed the tradeoffs of the designs. Students left the class with a deeper understanding of the multifaceted nature of sustainability and resilience.
“I learned that sustainability and resilience are not just about being environmentally conscious,” Goedecke reflects. “They’re necessities that consider a design’s entire lifecycle and the wellbeing of the people who use it, in addition to its environmental impact. I plan on remembering those lessons as I search for full-time job opportunities in the future.”
By blending theory and handson projects, Designing Resilient and Sustainable Infrastructure empowers students to envision the future of infrastructure in a way that prioritizes adaptability and long-term sustainability. “We want our students to not only solve today’s problems but to anticipate and design for tomorrow’s challenges,” says Christian.
Reimagining civil engineering at ASCE conference
Civil engineering is often considered the oldest engineering discipline, rooted in basic essentials like shelters, roads, and water systems dating back thousands of years ago. However, as our world evolves, reimagining this pioneering field becomes necessary in the face of modern challenges and opportunities.
This concept – “reimagining civil engineering” – was the driving theme behind the 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers International Conference on Computing in Civil Engineering, hosted by Burcu Akinci and Mario Berges. To Akinci, head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, this means taking a more intentional approach to design and decision-making while keeping societal impacts at the center.
“I think we’re uniquely positioned to lead this conversation because civil engineering at CMU has never been traditional,” said Akinci. “Our strengths in technology and computing combined with a focus on equity give us an advantage to look at conventional challenges in a new way.”
The conference was attended by over 360 guests. CEE team with Sizhe Ma, Assistant Professor Katherine Flanigan, and Professor Mario Berges won first runner up for best paper for their publication “Digital Twin Technologies in Predictive Maintenance: Enabling Transferability via Sim-to-Real and Real-to-Sim Transfer.”
Advancing microreactor technology efficiencies through digital twins
In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the adoption of renewable clean energy, signaling a crucial transition towards sustainable power production on a global scale. Technological progress, supportive policies, and a heightened public awareness of environmental issues have made renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and geothermal power increasingly accessible and cost-effective. Countries at the forefront of responsibly sourcing and manufacturing clean energy technologies stand to gain significant economic advantages.
Of America’s many abundant energy resources, nuclear energy emerges as a vital component of the U.S. renewable energy sector. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, nuclear power contributes nearly 20 percent of the electricity generated in America. Nuclear reactors are among the most viable options for a rapid transition to a carbon-free economy.
A vital component of the portfolio of nuclear power generation is the development of nextgeneration small modular reactors (SMRs) and microreactors. Microreactors are compact in design and can potentially be connected entirely off the grid, offering a reliable and scalable solution to meet growing energy demands.
Westinghouse Electric Company (Pittsburgh, PA) is a leader in the microreactor space with its next-generation eVinci® microreactor. In contrast to large, centralized stations, the transportable eVinci® was designed for decentralized remote applications, such as distant mining operations and other remote or edgeof-grid communities. Westinghouse refers to its revolutionary design as a “nuclear battery.”
After generating electricity over a life span of 8+ years, the entire microreactor unit—including its spent fuel—can be seamlessly removed and replaced with a new unit, like a battery.
In October 2023, Westinghouse met with CMU College of Engineering faculty to discuss industrial and research challenges. Following an absorbing exchange of ideas during the CMU campus visit, continued discussion led to addressing the needs of the eVinci® development and related research opportunities.
Supported by PITA, Westinghouse is collaborating with CMU researchers to investigate how to embed sensors in microreactors to monitor their performance and support decisions on reactor operation and maintenance. Led by Matteo Pozzi and Kaushik Dayal, professors of civil and environmental engineering at CMU, the project follows the paradigm of Digital Twins, where physical entities (microreactors) are represented by numerical models informed by data collected by the monitoring systems. In turn, the forecasts provided by the numerical models support the control process of the physical entities.
To Pozzi and Dayal, the application of Digital Twins to microreactors is particularly enabling because similar devices can be jointly analyzed, calibrating a general model for the reactor type and one specifically calibrated model per each microreactor, according to a set of interconnected probabilistic digital twins.
The team is optimistic about the project’s potential for industrial and societal impact. Digital twins offer a valuable application in the realm of microreactors due to the need for mechanical modeling, the integration with sensor data, and the possibility of developing a hierarchical model, where the general model is related to specific models for each reactor. Benefitting from Westinghouse’s long history of innovation, the team believes their partnership will contribute to the commercial competitiveness of the eVinci® reactors and support Pennsylvania’s leadership in clean energy research and manufacturing.
Westinghouse is collaborating with CMU researchers to investigate how to embed sensors in microreactors to monitor their performance and support decisions on reactor operation and maintenance.
“Using curbs commercially has substantial negative social externalities that have been historically overlooked.”
Sean Qian, Professor
The battle for curb space
Many know the frustration of exiting the airport after a long flight, ordering an Uber or Lyft, and waiting too long for a vehicle that is just a short distance away. This type of congestion is often not caused by typical traffic hold-ups, but rather rideshares and private drivers competing over limited curb space to pull over and pick up passengers.
Due to the expansion of new mobility technologies like ridesharing, grocery delivery, shared bike or scooter stations, and micro mobility systems, this problem is increasingly prevalent in cities across the country. On-street parking, curbside passenger pickup and drop-off, and loading for commercial trucks transform a normal city curb into valuable public infrastructure over which cars, trucks, delivery vehicles, facilities, and pedestrians compete.
patterns in usage and behavior to develop a ‘statusquo’ model and predict how travelers would react to changes in curb configuration, pricing, or space availability. This capability is especially useful to city planners looking to assess and implement new policies, like regulating and pricing spaces to ridesharing services or strategies to reduce vehicle emissions.
In a paper published in Transportation Science, researchers from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University developed a model to simulate how curbs are being used in real time within a large transportation network.
“Curb space could be a limited public resource in urban areas,” said Sean Qian, professor of civil and environmental engineering and director of the Mobility Data Analytics Center. “Using it commercially by companies like Uber, Doordash, and Amazon delivery has substantial negative social externalities that have been historically overlooked.”
The framework takes into account not just where and when different vehicles and services are using curb space, but also how these different uses interact with each other. For example, how does an Uber picking up passengers affect a delivery truck searching for a spot to unload? And, zooming out, how do these activities influence roadway congestion and the choices others make on a different road across town?
Using real-world data, the team was able to identify
“We have a large team that includes technology startups, traffic engineers, and urban planners from cities across the country,” said Jiachao Liu, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. “Based on our framework, we can inform them of the potential impacts of certain policies and how different users might react.”
Eventually, the research team hopes to improve how they calculate travel times to more accurately predict how curb usage could affect traffic delays, and consequently recommend optimal pricing strategies and space limitations to commercial curb use. Qian also hopes to incorporate data from additional travel modes in future studies, including public transportation, electric vehicles, and shared mobility services to paint a more comprehensive picture of the mobility network.
“With better technologies and curbside management strategies, there could be a win-win for cities and service operators,” said Qian. “I believe that traffic and curb usage can be efficient, reduce emissions, and improve service quality with the right approach.”
Unlock the power of digital twins with new online certificate
The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University is empowering practicing engineers with AI skills to lead and innovate in their organizations.
A new graduate certificate program from Carnegie Mellon’s Civil and Environmental Engineering department is equipping current engineers with the power of AI-enabled digital twins. The best part? It’s offered 100% online, so students can learn these transformative skills from anywhere at their own pace.
“With an understanding of AI and digital twin technologies, we have more reliable and actionable information than ever before at our fingertips to make better decisions, predictions, and models,” said Burcu Akinci, head of the department of civil and environmental engineering. “The principles and techniques taught in this certificate will help civil engineers close the loop between physical and digital worlds. We are teaching students how to use these technologies to accurately predict, control, and manage each unique project, process, building, or environment throughout its lifecycle.”
Students will take two transcriptable graduatelevel courses, starting with Principles of Digital Twins and moving onto Digital Twins and AI for Predictive Analytics, taught by members of our world-class faculty, Associate Professor Pingbo Tang and Professor Mario Bergés. The program can be completed in just two semesters and is designed especially for working professionals looking to advance their knowledge and bring cuttingedge technologies back to their organizations.
Advance your career with these elite skills.
Visit https://www. cmu.edu/online/aiedta/ to request more information and apply today.
Environmental
16 Mapping Alaska’s glaciers from above
18 How medical models can transform agriculture
20 Comfort vs. cash: energy behavior changes during COVID-19
22 Holistic environmental systems
IMAGE / Researchers conducting fieldwork research in Alaska
Mapping Alaska’s glaciers from above
“The surveys will not only enable us to further scientific understanding of glacial retreat, but will also help to assess potential future hazards to the downstream community and infrastructure.”
Brandon Tober, Postdoctoral researcher, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
researchers from Carnegie Mellon University, in collaboration with the National Park Service, University of Alaska Fairbanks, and University of Arizona, launched a project to map the glacier’s thickness and bedrock elevation using two types of ice-penetrating surveys – from the air and on the ground.
The data collected from both surveys will help predict how the glacier will evolve in the future, construct detailed regional maps, and better understand the glacier’s marginal lakes and their subsequent threat: outburst floods.
Nestled within Alaska’s Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, the largest national park in the United States, the Kennicott and Root glacier complex draws more than 50,000 visitors every year. This region, accessible by one of only two roads in the park, offers a unique opportunity for hikers to explore the icy surface of Root Glacier. However, like many other glaciers around the world, looking beyond the park’s stunning views reveals pressing environmental concerns around the thinning and retreat of the glacier system.
To better understand the region’s current and future conditions,
Beginning on foot, CMU’s Brandon Tober and team donned skis to survey the four kilometer lower section of Root Glacier where visitors access the park. This approach, while limited in range, collected data on the most trafficked area of the glacier system and later served as ground-truth validation for the second phase of surveys from above.
“Traditional ground-based ice penetrating radar surveys are very labor-intensive,” said Tober, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. “With a helicopterborne radar, we were able to cover approximately 550 kilometers of landscape in three days.”
Suspended from a bright orange helicopter, the four-pronged, drone-like sensor flew over both Kennicott and Root Glaciers in a serpentine pattern, using radar sounding to capture detailed measurements of the ice thickness and bedrock elevation below.
“Outburst floods occur when dammed lakes fed by glacial meltwater are released. They can be detrimental to towns in close proximity, like McCarthy, Alaska,” said Brandon Tober. “So, the surveys will not only enable us to further scientific understanding of glacial retreat, but will also help to assess potential future hazards to the downstream community and infrastructure.”
The results of these surveys will ultimately help inform the National Park Service of potential hazards to existing and future infrastructure developments including roads, pedestrian bridges, and trails. Until then, Tober and his team – including David Rounce, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, Martin Truffer from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Jack Holt from the University of Arizona, and Mike Loso from the National Park Service – remain dedicated to analyzing their radar data to better understand what the future holds for WrangellSt. Elias National Park and the Kennicott and Root glacier complex.
Ice thickness results on Root Glacier
Source: Brandon Tober
How medical models can transform agriculture
At the intersection of plants and nanomedicine perhaps lies a solution to current unsustainable agricultural practices and meeting increasing global food demands.
In a world where agriculture accounts for 14-28% of global greenhouse gas emissions and 70% of all freshwater withdraws, it is impossible to ignore that current agricultural practices are unsustainable. This, in addition to a range of other factors, including extreme weather events, rampant crop pests, and rapidly degrading soil, underlines the need for new technologies to meet increasing global food demands and climate goals.
In a new study published in Nature Nanotechnology, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University highlight that Plant Nanobiotechnology approaches can be used to deliver nanoforms of active agents, such as micronutrients or plant protection products, to specific biological targets. As a result, plants become more resilient against disease and harmful environmental factors like extreme heat or salt contents in soil, thus increasing crop yield and overall efficiency. However, because the field of Plant Nanobiotechnology is still in its nascent stages, many of the challenges to implementing new tools like nanocarriers are still unknown to researchers.
To overcome this obstacle, civil and environmental engineering professor Greg Lowry, in collaboration with colleagues and students, is looking beyond plants and agriculture to find solutions inspired by nanomedicine.
“We found that the challenges of using nanocarriers to deliver nutrients in plants parallel those in nanomedicine, which has the advantage of being an established and wellstudied field,” said Lowry. “While there are some key differences between plants and animals, many important parts of our research have been informed by nanomedicine, including identifying nanocarrier designs that can ensure active agents are effectively packaged, delivered, and released where they are needed.”
Similar to nanomedicine, researchers found that nanocarriers are most successful when they interact well with the organism they’re
targeting, navigate key biological barriers, and take advantage of natural processes while minimizing unintended consequences. The study also explored the potentially transformative approach of creating “digital twins” of plants for assessing the efficacy of different nanocarrier designs.
Digital twins are breakthrough modeling technologies that have been widely used throughout infrastructure management, predictive maintenance, and manufacturing. Their unique ability to analyze a structure and its surrounding conditions, process the information, and use it to inform, predict, and modify what happens in the physical world has revolutionized the way researchers process data.
Just as medical researchers use “digital patients,” or digital twin models to simulate how medicines interact with and move within the body, Lowry and his team could use “digital plants” to facilitate the design of nanocarriers that target nutrient delivery to selected plant organs. In doing so, nanocarriers would be better equipped to deliver essential active agents where and when they’re needed most, increasing their effectiveness, resilience to adversity, and overall agricultural output.
“Nano-enabled precision delivery of active agents in plants will transform agriculture, but there are critical technical challenges that we must first overcome to realize the full range of its benefits,” said Lowry. “I’m optimistic about the future of Plant Nanobiotechnology approaches and the beneficial impacts it will have on our ability to sustainably produce food.”
Source: Nature Creating a plant ‘digital twin’ will speed up the discovery of nanocarriers for targeted plant delivery by integrating models of biochemistry and biophysics at the nanocarrier-plant interface.”
Comfort vs. cash: energy behavior changes during COVID-19
“More careful considerations should be placed on incomeeligible requirements for assistance programs and the seasons in which we provide assistance to households.”
Destenie Nock, Assistant Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Engineering & Public Policy
The pandemic altered how individuals consumed energy in their homes, and in some areas the changes adversely affected energy poverty.
Roughly 4.8 million households reported that they were unable to pay at least one energy bill during the COVID-19 pandemic. As stay-at-home mandates were implemented, people spent more time at home, thus increasing energy usage, at a time when many experienced decreased income due to job loss and business closures.
While energy assistance programs offer relief for low-income groups, they often miss populations that exhibit energy-limiting behavior that puts them at risk of their pipes freezing in the winter, or of occupants getting heat stroke in the summer. Another vulnerable group that is missed are people whose past income might not reflect their current status. A recent study led by Destenie Nock, engineering and public policy students, and their collaborators examines how existing behaviors were changed during the course of the pandemic, and to what extent the changes impacted energy poverty.
“Energy poverty can manifest in many ways,” says Nock, an assistant professor of engineering and public policy and civil and environmental engineering. “One is through energy-limiting behavior, where households forgo comfort or safety indoors to save money on their heating and cooling bills. Another is households that spend a large portion of income on energy bills, but do so by giving up essential needs like food or medicine.”
Using a survey that collected information from residents of all income levels from Phoenix and Chicago, the study gauged subjective indicators of energy poverty by gathering information on perceptions of behavior, ability to cool home in the summer, and perceived tradeoff between energy consumption and other necessities.
Defined as the “inability or unwillingness to consume enough energy to reach a desired level of comfort,” energy-limiting behavior can put already marginalized groups at risk as they are more likely to face detrimental consequences in regards to safety or financial security.
The results indicated that in Chicago, lower- and
middle-income groups, who were worse off to begin with, were disproportionately negatively affected by the pandemic when compared to higher income groups. Illinois opted to expand existing programs, rather than creating new emergency programs, which may have limited the knowledge and entry into these programs.
In Chicago, despite having less than 25 percent of Phoenix’s annual cooling degree days (days with average temperature above 65 degrees), there was a comparable number of respondents who reported either almost never being able to adequately cool or only able to sometimes cool their homes adequately even before the onset of the pandemic.
Phoenix respondents reported that the pandemic negatively impacted their ability to cool their homes more often than Chicago respondents. This could be a reflection of Illinois having summer moratoria in place to prevent disconnections during heat waves. However, Illinois does not offer cooling assistance through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). While moratorium policies can be helpful during warm weather months, they have the potential to put households into debt and increase the risk of disconnection after the moratorium ends.
“More careful considerations should be placed on income-eligible requirements for assistance programs, and the seasons in which we provide assistance to households. Summer heat can be just as dangerous as winter freezes,” says Nock.
Using the findings of this work, policymakers could consider expanding thresholds for incomebased protection and assistance programs to include more moderate to middle income households, as well as take into account net income when evaluating program eligibility. Assistance programs could also consider factors such as level of insulation, appliance efficiency, and housing type in order to determine which type of energy assistance is best suited for particular households.
Holistic environmental systems
Undergraduate environmental engineering students examined household items to test if they contained toxic metals and, if so, learn how they got there.
Every Sunday on Winthrop Street in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood, Carnegie Mellon students gather in a small community garden. Lined with hay bales reused from CMU’s iconic Carnival weekend, several raised beds decorate the interior, all growing various herbs and vegetables, with a rain barrel and utility shed tucked in the corner. Some volunteers come with pets in tow, others with homemade cookies to share with the group, all ready to don a pair of gardening gloves and get to work.
The students make up CMU’s Sustainable Earth club and many study in the civil and environmental engineering department, putting their passion for sustainability and environmental matters in practice. Master Gardeners Lisa and Doug Long, who oversee the garden and share their expertise, and Sarah Fakhreddine, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, join them.
In her research, Fakhreddine focuses on all things water: Water quality, water quantity, and the management of our water systems. But, without taking a step back, she explains, studying water resources
– especially the quality of the water we drink and use in food production – won’t show you the whole picture.
“To understand if contaminants are in our water supplies, how they got there, and if they will pose a threat to human or ecosystem health, we need to understand the systems-level processes that control how contaminants move,” said Fakhreddine. “This is something I look at in my research and translate into the classroom.”
In her Advanced Environmental Engineering class, she teaches this concept with products and materials found in the students’ own homes. The class gathered frying pans, makeup, paint chips, cooking spices, and garden soil to examine using x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, a technique that shows which items contain toxic metals like arsenic, lead, or chromium.
“If they find something they weren’t expecting, we take time to think about sources of these contaminants and regulations to limit our exposure. We talk about the processes that control how these contaminants move in the environment and determine whether or not that actually poses a risk,” Fakhreddine explained. “The idea is to think more holistically about the environment as a complex system, not just water, air, or agriculture individually.”
“To understand if contaminants are in our water supplies, how they got there, and if they will pose a threat to human or ecosystem health, we need to understand the systems-level processes that control how contaminants move”
Sarah Fakhreddine, Assistant Professor
Students scoop x-rayed soil into handmade miniature greenhouses fashioned out of milk jugs. The greenhouses sit in raised gardening beds on Winthrop Street, growing shallots, bok choy, broccoli, and arugula, and are tended by environmental engineers who understand the interconnected systems with which they work.
Celebrating the class of 2024
This year marked the graduation of our first cohort of students from the B.S. in Environmental Engineering program. Of the 32 undergraduates, 21 earned their degrees in Civil Engineering, and 11 in Environmental Engineering. 15 Ph.D. and 59 M.S. graduates also walked the stage.
The diploma ceremony, attended by around 350 guests, also recognized the exceptional contributions of our students. Graduate awardees included Zia Lyle and Andrew Jones, recipients of the Paul P. Christiano Service Award; Ruoxin Xiong, honored with the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award; and Jinding Xing, who received the Mao Yisheng Outstanding Dissertation Award.
Among the undergraduates, Lillian Mei was named the ASCE Outstanding Student, while Nico Boquet, Sophie Kochanek, and Judy Zhu were awarded the H.A. Thomas, Sr. Scholarship. Borui Xu was recognized with the Civil and Environmental Engineering Research Award, Julane Johnson received the Lawrence G. Cartwright Service Award, and Justin Peng was honored with the James P. Romualdi Civil and Environmental Engineering Award.
Students at buggy
Carnegie Mellon University’s annual Buggy Sweepstakes, a cherished tradition during Spring Carnival, embodies innovation, teamwork, and the CMU spirit. This unique race features sleek, unpowered vehicles—designed and built by student teams—racing around a 0.84-mile track in Schenley Park. The event draws students from diverse disciplines, all united by their dedication to the challenge.
Among this year’s competitors were four CEE undergraduates. Junior Autumn Swartz joined the Student Dormitory Council (SDC) team on a friend’s invitation, quickly finding camaraderie and joy in the experience. Her team’s hard work paid off with a first-place finish in the all-gender category, setting a new course record of 2:36.27. “The best part was the team bonding,” Swartz reflects. “Successes felt much more meaningful due to teamwork.”
Senior Sophie Kochanek, driven by tradition and the desire to participate before graduation, juggled her soccer commitments with Buggy practices. Her SDC Women’s A team secured second place in the women’s category with a time of 2:32.43. The team spirit, especially during pre-race events, made the experience unforgettable.
For senior Julie Olsen, Buggy was a family affair. Her parents watched eagerly from home as her Finge Women’s D team placed 18th. Cecelia Dieterich, also a senior, embraced the opportunity to connect with CMU’s history through Buggy. Her SDC Women’s B team finished fourth, with Dieterich noting, “Since this is such an iconic event, I feel like I am really getting in touch with what it means to be a student here.”
Meeting of the minds
For one day at the end of each spring semester, the Cohon University Center becomes a hub of academic posters, presentations, and demonstrations of projects that undergraduate students have been working on throughout the year. This year, five students represented the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Meeting of the Minds event.
Gravity-fed hydroponic rainwater management
Junior Kate Hanson’s project was inspired by a green wall that once brightened downtown Pittsburgh, but was removed due to high upkeep costs. She wondered if a cost-effective solution was possible, considering Pittsburgh’s ample rainfall but the challenge of distributing water without expensive pumps.
Hanson’s project involves a pipe system on vertical walls to feed plants. During heavy rain, a bobber system similar to a toilet flushing system prevents flooding by opening a door at the tank’s bottom. In dry times, ribbed floors within the pipes displace water, ensuring it reaches the plant roots. Hanson, advised by Professor Greg Lowry, won the Undergraduate Environmental Award and aims to implement her system at Wean Hall, collaborating with the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship to bring her vision to life.
Nanoscale
citrus greening prevention
Greening devastates citrus crops, leading to yield loss and tree fatalities, posing a critical threat to the U.S. citrus industry. With current antibiotic treatments failing, researchers
are exploring alternative methods to safeguard citrus plants.
Junior Flannery McNair’s project, “Testing Nano-enabled Carriers for Efficient Delivery of Oxytetracycline and Streptomycin to Prevent Citrus Greening Disease,” investigates the effectiveness of nanocarriers in delivering antibiotics via citrus leaves. She employed specially crafted nanocarriers to target the phloem and roots of orange trees, optimizing antibiotic delivery. McNair tracked nanoparticles through plants using Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) and gadolinium salt and assessed their movement post-application. She also delivered vanadium, a beneficial element for plant growth, via nanocarriers and monitoring their distribution in plants.
This summer, McNair will intern with D.C. Water to explore the industry side of environmental engineering.
Peptide nanocarriers boost plant resilience
With crop yields decreasing worldwide due to extreme weather, researchers are seeking ways to mitigate these stressors. Junior Sophie Vincens, collaborating with Professor Greg Lowry, explored how polymer nanocarriers can help plants cope with climate-induced stress.
Vincens focused on improving nanocarriers’ effectiveness by identifying coatings that enable their entry into protoplasts, specifically targeting chloroplasts. By using cellpenetrating peptides and imaging dyes, she investigated the potential for improved plant survival in harsh climates. This project, which began last summer and continued through the academic year, has inspired Vincens to pursue PhD programs to further her research.
Equity in Alaskan water quality
Junior Isabella Krisky collaborated with Nikki Ritsch, a Ph.D. student in engineering and public policy, and researchers at UT Austin to
investigate the relationship between water quality and sociodemographic factors across Alaska, addressing equity issues in rural drinking water systems.
Analyzing water samples from various Alaskan boroughs, they found that communities with more Alaska Native people had higher arsenic levels, while those with more Asian and Pacific Islander residents had lower arsenic levels. Although all samples were within safe limits, ongoing research aims to better understand water access disparities in Alaskan communities. Krisky plans to complete a master’s program and gain fieldwork experience before considering a PhD.
Capstone Success: Effective Project Leadership
Senior Hikari Harrison presented her capstone project for her Bachelor of Engineering Studies and Art (BESA) with a concentration in Civil Engineering and Technical Direction, leading the SDS booth at Carnegie Mellon’s Spring Carnival. Her Animal Crossing-themed booth won multiple awards, including first place for Independent Booth and overall, an environmental award for onsite planning, and a second environmental award for energy use.
Despite challenges with sourcing materials and managing a tight budget, Harrison prioritized sustainability by repurposing materials and implementing energy-efficient lighting. The booth’s standout features and interactive elements created an immersive experience, fostering strong camaraderie among team members who overcame obstacles to deliver a high-quality project.
FACULTY AWARDS
Professor Sean Qian named 20 People to Know in Transportation and Infrastructure
As part of the 20 People to Know series, the Pittsburgh Business Times named Professor Sean Qian one of their 20 People to Know in Transportation and Infrastructure. In the interview for his award winner profile, Qian shared, “My passion is to deploy start-of-the-art technologies to help solve real-world problems. What fascinates me is how to get a person from A to B safely, efficiently, conveniently and with low stress.”
Professor Greg Lowry received the 2024 David P. Casasent Outstanding Research Award
This prestigious award recognizes a faculty member within the College of Engineering for a distinguished research contribution that has significantly enhanced the College of Engineering’s national or global reputation and garnered notable acclaim from experts in the field.
2024 CMU Teaching Innovation Award to Jerry Wang for “Participation Shoutouts!” activity
Jerry Wang, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, has made it his mission to lift others up throughout his career. So it is only fitting that his efforts are now being recognized with the Teaching Innovation Award for his creation of the “Participation Shoutouts!” activity.
This end-of-semester activity encourages students to submit statements of gratitude for classmates who have positively impacted them. Students can choose whether their shoutout is shared with the person they wrote about or kept private between them and Wang. While submitting a shoutout doesn’t directly benefit the writer, it has the potential to boost the participation grade of the recipient, adding a layer of goodwill without pressure.
Wang’s dedication to fostering a positive classroom environment has deep roots, tracing back to his time as a student at MIT. Known for his humor and playfulness, Wang pairs these qualities with a commitment to ensuring that students truly grasp course material. His innovative teaching methods, like the “Participation Shoutouts!” activity, are designed to be transferable across different courses, regardless of subject matter, size, or level.
“Although I interacted with many amazing professors at CMU, none were quite as genuinely engaged as Jerry,” said Emerson Collins (CEE’23).
“His passion for knowledge and encouragement of learning provided an innovative, stimulating classroom experience. From interactive games
to cooperative team projects, there was never a dull moment in Jerry’s classroom.”
Wang’s aim with “Participation Shoutouts!” is to reduce friction to expressing gratitude. “There is little I believe more firmly than this: Our campus (not to mention our country and our body politic) would be so much the better if more people regularly engaged in the conscientious expression of gratitude,” he said.
STUDENT AWARDS
Investing in tomorrow’s engineers: two students receive Menard-DFI scholarship
We are proud to announce the recipients of the Menard-DFI Educational Trust scholarship: Aurora Fuchs and Justin Peng, whose outstanding accomplishments underscore their commitment to their educational and career goals.
Aurora Fuchs, a sophomore from Pennsylvania, exhibits a keen interest in geotechnical and structural engineering. As she navigates her undergraduate coursework, Fuchs is considering pursuing a master’s degree. Fuchs actively contributes to campus life, serving as a Resident Assistant and an EMERGE mentor. She is deeply engaged within her department, participating in organizations like ASCE and Chi Epsilon.
Expressing her gratitude, Fuchs remarks, “Receiving the MenardDFI Educational Trust scholarship is a tremendous honor. It provides invaluable support during a challenging phase of my academic journey. This financial assistance enables me to embark on a summer internship and opens doors for a study abroad program, allowing me to delve into specialized structural and geotechnical coursework not available at CMU.”
Justin Peng, originating from Ohio, recently completed his bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering and is currently pursuing his master’s. His achievements include securing the very competitive 2023 ASCE Achievement Award from the ASCE Pittsburgh Section. Peng’s awards extend to
earning a Commendation for Excellence at the Thrill Design Invitational in 2022 and his team winning the TechSpark Best Design award. Beyond academics, he actively participates in extracurricular activities such as the Kiltie Band, All University Orchestra, and Science Olympiad. Peng’s interests span across construction, structural, and geotechnical engineering, and he has already secured a promising post-graduation position with BASE Engineering.
The Menard-DFI Educational Trust Award supports outstanding undergraduate and graduate students in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Emphasizing academic excellence and a passion for deep-foundation industries, the Trust actively seeks to empower underrepresented voices in the field. Named partly in honor of The Menard Group, this initiative embodies a commitment to diversity and inclusivity, providing invaluable financial support to deserving students beyond conventional university aid.
The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion recognized Min Young Hwang as a 2023-2024 DEI Champion for her dedicated and collaborative spirit in the CEE department. This year, she spearheaded the organization of the inaugural CEE DEI Hackathon, showcasing her proactive leadership and commitment to fostering inclusivity.
CMU Engineers without Borders won TechSpark’s Best Design Award for their design of a biogas digester project for a school in Zimbabwe. The design aims to mitigate the health hazards associated with breathing in harmful air produced from cooking with firewood.
MIN YOUNG HWANG
MARISSA WEBBER
Ph.D. student Marissa Webber won Best Student Paper at the 2024 American Society for Engineering Education Conference for her publication, “Preparing the Next Generation of Engineers for Decision Making under Deep Uncertainty: Exploring the Pedagogical Role of Decisions for the Decade Game.” CEE Assistant Teaching Professor Fethiye Ozis, Ph.D, PE, ENV SP is Marissa’s advisor and co-authored the winning paper.
Former CEE Department Head David Dzombak was also recognized at the conference with the ASCEE Leadership award from the ASEE Civil Engineering Division.
Two CEE students awarded Fulbright Scholarships
Of the ten members of the Carnegie Mellon University community selected as grant recipients for the U.S. Fulbright Student Program’s 2024-25 competition cycle, two are students in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Ben Therrien, a Ph.D. candidate pursuing a joint degree in civil and environmental engineering and engineering and public policy, is among the honorees. His Fulbright award will take him across the European Union, where he will complete his dissertation on agricultural nanotechnology. Therrien’s research explores how this technology is developed and how risks and policies associated with it are communicated. “Developing a unified communication and policy framework for new technologies like nanotechnology can help support our mutual food security goals into the future,” he says.
Therrien will work with researchers from three universities: the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Ludwig Maximilian Institute of Munich, and Łódź University of Technology in Poland. Each institution plays a significant role in agricultural and risk communication studies, aligning with Therrien’s research goals.
Katie Hart (CEE’24), who recently graduated with a degree in civil and environmental engineering and engineering and public policy, will use her Fulbright to pursue a master’s degree at Ostbayerische Technische Hochschule Amberg-
Weiden in Germany. Focusing on clean energy and public policy, Hart aims to learn from Germany’s transition to renewable energy. Her interest in clean energy was sparked by research and coursework at CMU, as well as a study abroad experience in Rome.
“Receiving the Fulbright is a reminder to me to take time and celebrate my time in college and what I have done, as well as thank my mentors, professors, family and friends who had such an impact on my time here,” Hart said.
Alumni award ceremonies celebrate success and service
Joining the annual recognition of CEE alumni this year were the inaugural College of Engineering Alumni Awards. Anthony DiGioia III (CEE/BME 1979, 1982), a pioneering figure in healthcare, received the College of Engineering Alumni Outstanding Achievement Award. Seth Pearlman (CEE’79) was honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award for his innovative leadership in geotechnical engineering and construction. The Outstanding Alumni Service Award was presented to Amelia Harris (CEE’09) and Todd Wilson (CEE’06) for their contributions to the CEE community. Frank Frisby (CEE’11) and Dr. Natalie Pekney (CEE’04) received the Lt. Col. Christopher K. Raible Distinguished Public Service Award for their remarkable commitment to our community. Lastly, the Recent Alumni Achievement Award was presented to Daymanuel Sampson (CEE’13) for his leadership in workforce development and community engagement within the construction industry.
AmeliaHarris
ToddWilson
FrankFrisby
ALUMNI HIGHLIGHTS
NAVISHKA PANDIT
Navishka Pandit (CEE’22) was selected as an emerging sustainable finance leader in North America through the GreenFin24 Emerging Leaders Program. This program develops a diverse and representative community of sustainability professionals and provides opportunities to learn and network with leading professionals in the industry.
GRETA MARKEY
Greta Markey (CEE, EPP’22) was CMU’s first recipient of the Stanford KnightHennessy Scholars award, for which she is provided up to three years of funding to pursue a graduate degree at any of Stanford University’s seven schools.
D a ymanuelSampson
Dr . Natalie Pekney
SethPearlman
Global skylines, CEE roots
Xavier Hairston-Khan (CEE’10) traveled the world building some of society’s most iconic structures, but always came back to what he learned in CMU’s M.S. in civil and environmental engineering program.
Xavier Hairston-Khan (CEE’10) grew up in New York City, surrounded by feats of structural engineering in the buildings and skyscrapers around him. But, it took stumbling across a picture from the other side of the world that sparked his interest in his future profession.
“My uncle was a computer science engineer and he introduced me to a website that explained each of the engineering disciplines from A to Z. Civil engineering was shown with a picture of the Egyptian pyramids,” Hairston-Khan recalls. “I was really drawn to the idea of building something with a legacy that lasts for hundreds or thousands of years.”
While earning his Bachelor’s degree, Hairston-Khan participated in an undergraduate exchange program where he first visited Carnegie Mellon’s campus, sat in on graduate classes, and met with faculty. Attracted to the Global Sustainable Construction path and the department’s commitment to student success, he later enrolled in Carnegie Mellon’s master of science in civil and environmental engineering program.
During his graduate studies, Hairston-Khan took a course on International Construction Management where students
simulated constructing the same building in three different countries. Partnering with schools from Brazil and Turkey, they analyzed and adapted to the varying conditions that were presented in each region to build the same structure in the same timeframe. Looking back, Hairston-Khan sees the course as a prequel to what he would pursue in his future work at Turner Construction Company.
“In 2014, I found myself working on the construction of the second tallest tower in the world, Merdeka 118. The design team was in Australia, consultants were in Singapore, and my team was in Malaysia. I thought back to what I learned in that International Construction Management class,” he said. “The coursework continues to be relevant to what I do at now.”
Hairston-Khan began working at Turner Construction Company while pursuing his Master’s degree at CMU. After graduating, his work brought him around the world to countries like India, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia and on exciting projects like Madison Square Garden, India’s Statue of Unity, SOFI Stadium, and the Bangalore International Airport. Today, he is back in New York overseeing Turner Technical Services, a consulting arm of the company that he helped build in 2016. Heavily impacted by the need for remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic, Turner Technical Services specializes in virtual construction and design and remote project engineering.
Throughout his time at Turner, Hairston-Khan repeatedly returned to the critical thinking and problem-solving skills the civil engineering program taught him.
“It’s a state-of-the-art education that taught me skills I still apply to my job today, 14 years later,” he said. “I’m really grateful for everyone I’ve connected with over the years and everything that Carnegie Mellon has done for me.”
Connecting futures: Alumni to student mentorship
When Craig Boman (CEE’16) learned that he could serve as a mentor to a current CEE student, he jumped at the opportunity. He sought a way to give back to the university and to a student who was experiencing the same questions and situations that he’d navigated as a student not too long ago. Through CEE’s Alumni/ Undergraduate Mentor Program, he was introduced to Ashima Sharma (CEE’22) and began building a connection that’s proven inspirational and beneficial to them both.
Boman, project manager at Sherwood Design Engineers in San Francisco, described Sharma as being very aspirational and open to learning more about life after graduation. “One of the best parts of being a mentor was the interesting conversations I’d have with Ashima. You learn a lot as a mentor, including how to take something complex and simplify it. It really made me focus on how to be a strong communicator.”
Sharma adds that Boman’s eagerness made her feel comfortable asking him questions about possible educational and career moves. “One big benefit of the mentorship program was talking to someone who has been in the same place as me,” she explained. Boman’s shared experiences—from classes to on-campus events to professional development—allowed
him to provide valuable insight into possible future paths.
“I could talk to him about something he regretted not taking advantage of or a relationship with an advisor that he’d recommend,” added Sharma.
Because they lived across the country from each other, Boman and Sharma stayed in touch through virtual meetings. “At first, I gave her insights into graduate school, and suggestions for courses to take,” says Boman. His recommendations guided Sharma to dig deep and discover her areas of interest before making educational commitments.
“He really helped me decide to pursue the Integrated B.S./M.S. program,” stated Sharma. “He’d done it himself and it was so useful to ask him questions specifically about CMU’s curriculum. It was also just nice to have someone to check in with every two weeks. It kept me motivated.”
After years of talking online, Boman and Sharma finally had the opportunity to meet in person during Boman’s recent visit to Pittsburgh. While in town, he connected with Andrea Francioni Rooney at CEE and asked how Sharma was doing—and was shocked to discover that they were both on campus.
“We officially met years after completing the mentorship program— it was great to cross paths and catch
up finally,” adds Boman. “I’m proud of her accomplishments and pleased that some of the advice I gave her about the professional workforce and school helped guide her to this place.”
With Sharma now graduated from the mentorship program and working as a Senior Consultant for Ricondo, Boman is open to helping another mentee. “Being able to connect to someone going through the engineering coursework is exciting—a mentor and a mentee help each other because it keeps me knowledgeable about what’s going on at the university while also helping a smart and driven student accomplish his or her goals.”
Boman’s positive experience inspired him to revitalize a languishing mentorship program within his company. Thirty individuals have already signed up for the program, and Boman is pleased with its quick success. “Mentorship doesn’t feel like work. It feels like just talking to a person and helping to guide them.”
Inspired by Boman, Sharma has also started volunteering as a mentor. For the past three years, she’s participated in mentoring programs with the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Society of Women Engineers.
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