Learn more about our research

CEE-related centers and institutes

At Carnegie Mellon’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, we are dedicated to advancing knowledge and building innovative solutions that address the complex challenges facing our world today. Our research is driven by a commitment to resilience, sustainability, and the creation of a better future for our communities and the environment.

Focus areas

Our department’s research and education efforts are centered around four key focus areas, each aimed at addressing critical challenges and advancing our understanding of civil and environmental engineering.

Intelligent engineered systems and society

Climate-resilient environmental systems and technologies

Sustainable energy and transportation systems

Mechanics, chemistry, and materials

Research news

The battle for curb space Opens in new window

Civil Engineering researchers examine how new mobility systems are transforming city curbs into critical infrastructure and develop a framework to model usage and inform future policies.

Mapping Alaska’s glaciers from above

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon, in collaboration with the National Park Service, use helicopter-borne ice penetrating radar surveys to assess the ice thickness and bedrock elevation of glaciers in Alaska’s Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, the largest national park in the U.S.

How medical models can transform agriculture Opens in new window

At the intersection of plants and nanomedicine perhaps lies a solution to current unsustainable agricultural practices and meeting increasing global food demands.

Toward improving rural mobility Opens in new window

Researchers designed and piloted the rural access mobility platform to improve rural mobility services that are inefficient, unaffordable, inaccessible, and unsustainable.

Undergraduates present research at Meeting of the Minds 2024 Opens in new window

Engineering undergraduate students had a wonderful showing at Meeting of the Minds, displaying posters, giving presentations, and demonstrating projects they have worked on this past academic year.

Comfort vs. cash: energy behavior changes during COVID-19 Opens in new window

The pandemic altered how individuals consumed energy in their homes, and in some areas the changes adversely affected energy poverty.

Studying heterogeneous materials under extreme conditions Opens in new window

The Department of Defense awards a team of researchers funding to develop energy-absorbing, structure-preserving materials that are more resilient under extreme loads.

Electrification of transit buses in the United States reduces greenhouse gas emissions

Sofia Martinez, a Ph.D. student in CEE, found that transitioning the entire U.S. transit bus fleet to battery electric buses would mitigate between 33% and 65% of existing bus emissions—even when accounting for the emissions associated with the electricity used to charge the buses and the impacts from manufacturing the batteries.