Climate change is transforming the world around us, and the systems and
structures that support society must evolve and adapt. CEE’s focus on societal scale problems means that climate
change is a central consideration in almost all application areas, with civil and environmental engineers addressing
both the causes and impacts of climate change through research and action to mitigate future climate change and
adapt society to the changes that will occur. Examples include: integrating low carbon and net-negative carbon
materials into the built environment; transforming our transportation and energy systems for vehicles, transit
systems, and fleets that are electrified or are otherwise independent of fossil fuels; designing and constructing
infrastructure systems that are resilient to both current and future conditions and hazards, including droughts,
floods, heat waves, and windstorms; and creating computational projections of future conditions, and calibrating
them with ongoing monitoring data, so that emerging inequities can be identified early to ensure climate justice
goals are met.
Visit the Civil & Environmental Engineering Department website.
