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Civil and Environmental Engineering

Channel | updated May 29, 2013

The MIT Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) is dedicated to balancing the built environment with the natural world. In our research, we seek to understand natural systems, to foster the intelligent use of resources and to design sustainable infrastructure systems.

We provide leadership in the field by focusing on technological innovations, seeking advances in basic knowledge and taking a systems perspective. We concentrate our efforts on quantitative and analytical approaches, novel experiment-based modeling, and the development and/or use of appropriate tools and technology.

CEE is an innovative and vibrant place of learning, where undergraduates, graduate students and postdoctoral researchers pursue their educational and research interests in order to lead the next generation in transforming the disciplines of civil and environmental engineering.

Our research and graduate education programs coalesce around three fields of inquiry: environmental science and engineering; mechanics, materials and structures; and transportation. We offer ABET-accredited undergraduate degree programs in civil engineering and environmental engineering science.

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Elongated Microbes Align With Turbulent Flow

Elongated Microbes Align With Turbulent Flow

This is a culture flask being shaken in front of a video camera. The dark whorls are actually light backscattering off elongated microbes locally aligned with the turbulent flow. Video / Marcos, Seymour, Luhar, Durham, Mitchell, Macke and Stocker from the paper, ...

Experiment (100x slower)

MIT News,
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Experiment (100x slower)

The researchers needed to be able to change a cat's lapping speed in order to test their theory. So they developed a robotic version of a cat's tongue -- a mechanical column with a 1-inch glass disk at the tip. This device allowed the researchers to study the liquid column for different ...

Cutta Cutta (12x slower)

MIT News,
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Cutta Cutta (12x slower)

Cutta Cutta drinking Cat fanciers appreciate the gravity-defying grace and exquisite balance of their feline friends. But do they know that those traits extend even to the way cats lap milk? Researchers analyzed the way domestic and big cats lap and found that felines of all sizes take ...

H-bond cooperation in proteins

H-bond cooperation in proteins

The strength of a protein-based materials like spider silk lies in the specific geometric configuration of structural proteins, which have small clusters of weak hydrogen bonds that work cooperatively to resist force and dissipate energy. This video shows the failure of a beta-sheet model ...

Infochemicals in the Ocean

Infochemicals in the Ocean

Marine microbes -- though invisible to the naked eye -- perform functions that are vital for the health of the ocean. With no vision or hearing, they navigate their environment by following chemical signals. One of these chemicals, DMSP, elicits attraction among several marine microorganisms. ...

Energy-Efficient Salps

Energy-Efficient Salps

Energy-efficient salps swim and forage. To find out more, read a news release at http://cee.mit.edu/news/releases/2010/salp . Video courtesy of Roman Stocker of the MIT Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Kelly Rakow Sutherland and Larry Madin of Woods Hole Oceanographic ...

Coupling simulation-based and analytical traffic models to ...

Coupling simulation-based and analytical traffic models to mitigate urban ...

Presentation given by Carolina Osorio on May 4, 2010

2010 Freeman Lecture: "Rubbish, Stink & Death"

2010 Freeman Lecture: "Rubbish, Stink & Death"

The Historical Evolution, Present State and Future Direction of Water-Quality Management and ModelingSteve Chapra, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tufts University

2008 Freeman Lecture: "Singapore's Marina Barrage"

2008 Freeman Lecture: "Singapore's Marina Barrage"

Brendan M. Harley, Senior Vice President, Camp Dresser & McKee Inc. "Singapore's Marina Barrage: Design, Evolution and Construction of a Multi-Purpose Urban Reservoir"

2007 Freeman Lecture: "Cape Cod's Billion Dollar ...

2007 Freeman Lecture: "Cape Cod's Billion Dollar Ground-Water Cleanup: The ...

Denis R. LeBlanc, U.S. Geological Survey: "Cape Cod's Billion Dollar Ground-Water Cleanup: The Hydrologic Story"

2006 Freeman Lecture: "Integrated Water Resources ...

2006 Freeman Lecture: "Integrated Water Resources Management in the Midst ...

Eugene Z. Stakhiv, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, "Integrated Water Resources Management in the Midst of Chaos and Caducity: Lessons from Hurricane Katrina"

2005 Freeman Lecture: "Global Water Crises: Myth or ...

2005 Freeman Lecture: "Global Water Crises: Myth or Reality?"

Peter Rogers of Harvard University

Underground methane

MIT News,
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Underground methane

This video shows underground methane gas invading fine-grain sediment (shown in yellow) by creating a fracture, as predicted by Jain and Juanes' grain scale model. Blue circles represent pore spaces where the gas has invaded. The maroon lines indicate compressive forces between sediment ...

1.961 - Lecture 1 - The Origin of Diffusion

1.961 - Lecture 1 - The Origin of Diffusion

1.961 Life at low Reynolds numbersIntroduction to the class Brownian motion

1.961 - Lecture 2 – The physics of diffusion

1.961 - Lecture 2 – The physics of diffusion

1.961 Life at low Reynolds numbersRandom walkers: a toy model for diffusion The diffusion coefficient and Einstein's formula

1.961 - Lecture 3 – Diffusion around a sphere

1.961 - Lecture 3 – Diffusion around a sphere

1.961 Life at low Reynolds numbersDiffusion-limited uptake: nutrient flux to a sphere When does nutrient uptake occur only by diffusion: The Peclet number Diffusion vs. locomotion: how do you escape from your boundary layer? Diffusion and metabolism: limits to size ...

1.961 - Lecture 4 – A smooth world

1.961 - Lecture 4 – A smooth world

1.961 Life at low Reynolds numbersSolving the diffusion equation A fundamental property of diffusion: rapid smearing of fine-scale heterogeneities

1.961 - Lecture 5 – Examples and applications of ...

1.961 - Lecture 5 – Examples and applications of diffusion

1.961 Life at low Reynolds numbersThe capillary assay: testing what microorganisms like Diffusion in a pipe Insect tracheae: limits to respiration Diffusion of momentum: an analogy The porosity of eggs and the gas exchange in leaves (handouts only)

1.961 - Lecture 6 – Receptors

1.961 - Lecture 6 – Receptors

1.961 Life at low Reynolds numbers Receptors on cell surfaces: how many do you need? Other forms of diffusion Diffusion with drift

1.961 - Lecture 7 – Taylor dispersion

1.961 - Lecture 7 – Taylor dispersion

1.961 Life at low Reynolds numbersPoiseuille flow The advection-diffusion equation Stretching the mixing zone: enhancing diffusion via shear