News In Brief

For the 34th consecutive year, Parsons Laboratory students, faculty, staff and family members celebrated Halloween with a pumpkin carving party and dinner. Close to 120 people attended this year’s party Oct. 30, creatively transforming 58 pumpkins into glowing art. Babies in elaborate costumes watched the events from their parents’ arms, while older children and even teenagers enjoyed the tradition of creating scary faces. Many children of faculty and staff have attended the parties for years, with some now bringing their own children. Read more.

As part of its “Year of the Professor” campaign throughout 2009, ASTM International (formerly the American Society for Testing and Materials) has chosen CEE senior research associate John Germaine as its Professor of the Year. ASTM established the award to recognize and reward the contributions of educators in the standards development process and in fostering students’ understanding of standards. The ASTM International campaign intends to expand student knowledge and awareness of technical standards, and provides college and university educators with tools and informational programs to help them teach their students about the benefits of standardization. As part of the campaign, Germaine will present a webinar at 10 a.m. Dec. 18, "Incorporating ASTM Standards into University Curricula." Read more.

The dissertation of recent graduate Emmanuel Carrier (Ph.D. 2008) received an honorable mention in the George B. Dantzig Dissertation Award competition during the INFORMS annual meeting held Oct. 11-14 in San Diego. The award recognizes dissertations that are innovative and relevant to the practice of operations research and the management sciences. Carrier’s dissertation, "Modeling the Choice of an Airline Itinerary and Fare Product Using Booking and Seat Availability Sata," was nominated jointly by MIT and Amadeus, a global distribution systems (GDS) of travel products and a provider of software solutions to the travel industries. Amadeus was a partial sponsor of Carrier’s graduate research and provided the data used in his dissertation, which was supervised by Professor Moshe Ben-Akiva and Peter Belobaba, principal research scientist in aeronautics and astronautics. Carrier is now working at AI Systems in Kirkland, Wash.

David Simchi-Levi and co-author Xin Chen, assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, won the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) 2009 Revenue Management and Pricing Section Prize for three papers about coordinating inventory and pricing strategies in the supply chain. The citation refers to the work “as seminal papers of the field.” Read more.

Concrete is the most widely used building material on the planet; however, the production of some of its component materials accounts for up to 5 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions annually. To address the sustainability and environmental implications of the use of concrete as the backbone of our housing, schools, hospitals and other built infrastructure, including highways, tunnels, airports and rail systems, MIT today announced the creation of the Concrete Sustainability Hub, a research center established at MIT in collaboration with the Portland Cement Association (PCA) and Ready Mixed Concrete (RMC) Research & Education Foundation. Read more.

In the 2,000 or so years since the Roman Empire employed a naturally occurring form of cement to build a vast system of concrete aqueducts and other large edifices, researchers have analyzed the molecular structure of natural materials and created entirely new building materials such as steel, which has a well-documented crystalline structure at the atomic scale. Oddly enough, the three-dimensional crystalline structure of cement hydrate — the paste that forms and quickly hardens when cement powder is mixed with water — has eluded scientific attempts at decoding, despite the fact that concrete is the most prevalent man-made material on earth and the focus of a multibillion-dollar industry that is under pressure to clean up its act. A paper published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) this week announces the decoding of the three-dimensional structure of the basic unit of cement hydrate by a group of MIT researchers who have adopted the team name of Liquid Stone. Read more.

Scientists worry that rising global temperatures accompanied by melting permafrost in arctic regions will initiate the release of underground methane into the atmosphere. An MIT paper elucidates how this underground methane in frozen regions would escape and concludes that methane trapped under the ocean may already be escaping through vents in the sea floor a million times faster than previously believed. Some scientists have associated the release, both gradual and fast, of subsurface ocean methane with climate change of the past and future. Read more.

Professor Andrew J. Whittle, a geotechnical engineer who served on the panel reviewing the hurricane protection systems in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina and the Massachusetts governor’s “stem to stern” safety review of Boston’s Big Dig tunnels, will be the next head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), effective Sept. 1. Read more.

Parsons Laboratory graduate students Gajan Sivandran and Sarah Jane White each received an Outstanding Student Paper Award (hydrology section) for work presented at the American Geological Society's 2008 Fall meeting in San Francisco. Sivandran, a member of the Rafael Bras group, was recognized for "An Eleven-Year Validation of a Physically-Based Distributed Dynamic Ecohydrological Model tRIBS+VEGGIE: Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed, Arizona." White's paper, "The Rise of III-V Semiconductors and their Impact on Environmental Indium Concentrations," considered the environmental cycling of trace metals. “I study the potential impacts of metals, including indium, that are found in new semiconductor technologies such as photovoltaic panels and high-efficiency LEDs,” she explained. “The use of indium is increasing rapidly, but its environmental behavior and impacts are poorly understood. The ultimate goal is to determine the environmental impacts of industrially-important metals early on, so that new technologies can be developed sustainably.”  White works with Professor Harold Hemond.

The weak tendons and fragile bones characteristic of osteogenesis imperfecta, or brittle bone disease, stem from a genetic mutation that causes the incorrect substitution of a single amino acid in the chain of thousands of amino acids making up a collagen molecule, the basic building block of bone and tendon. According to Professor Markus Buehler of MIT, that minuscule encoding error creates a defective collagen molecule that, at the site of the amino acid substitution, repels rather than attracts the collagen molecule alongside it. This creates a tiny rift in the tissue, which when repeated in many molecules, leads to brittle tissue, broken bones, deformity and, in the most severe form of the disease, death. For example, if healthy collagen tissue looked like a sheet of paper, diseased collagen tissue would look more like a sheet of paper full of tiny perforations. At each of these perforations, the sheet would be considerably more prone to tearing. Read release.

The redesigned CEE alumni newsletter, CEE In Focus, won a gold award in the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education's annual Circle of Excellence Awards in the category Tabloid and Newsletter Publishing Improvement. Monica Greenwald and Tammy Dayton of Moth Design designed the newsletter; Denise Brehm, senior communications officer for CEE, was project manager. Read CEE In Focus.

CEE civil engineers have for the first time identified what causes the most frequently used building material on earth — concrete — to gradually deform, decreasing its durability and shortening the lifespan of infrastructures such as bridges and nuclear waste containment vessels. In a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) online Early Edition the week of June 15, Professor Franz-Josef Ulm and recent graduate Matthieu Vandamme say that concrete creep (the technical term for the time-dependent deformation that occurs in concrete when it is subjected to load) is caused by the rearrangement of particles at the nanoscale. Read more.

SEED Magazine included Professor Elfatih Eltahir’s malaria research in a June 11 article profiling “the most promising and innovative approaches to fighting malaria.” The article by Maywa Montenegro accompanies a longer article about the health risks associated with using DDT in the developing world. In “Malaria: Five New Weapons,” Montenegro writes: MIT professor of civil and environmental engineering Elfatih Eltahir and graduate students Rebecca Gianotti and Arne Bomblies have developed a new computer model that analyzes the effectiveness of environmental methods of malaria control. The MIT model shows how actions like eliminating low spots where pools of water collect during the rainy season, or applying plant-derived pesticides to limit the growth of mosquitoes can have a dramatic effect on controlling malaria’s spread. Read article.

Professor David Simchi-Levi, co-director of the Leaders for Manufacturing (LFM) program, announced today that the program has a new name: Leaders for Global Operations (LGO). This new identity reflects the expansion from LFM's historically broad understanding of manufacturing to encompass all aspects of operations. The program will continue to build on its strengths in production and logistics. After an extensive research process involving all the program’s constituencies, the LGO Governing Board approved the change in name and mission. The board also directed LGO to address operations challenges beyond such traditional manufacturing sectors as automotive, aerospace, and high tech manufacturing, to include supply chain retailers such as Amazon.com and Inditex, S.A. (Zara). Read more.

On the Wednesday of final exam week, the New England region-champion MIT Steel Bridge team headed to Las Vegas for the national competition, where the team placed 18th nationally out of 47 teams. After the two days of judging ended May 23, the MIT team’s overall score was $2.95 million, about the same as at regionals. First-ranked State University of New York at Canton had a final score $1.94 million. North Dakota State took second-place ranking with a score of $1.95 million and Lakehead University ended in third with $1.98 million. View slideshow and read more.

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering held its annual senior dinner and awards ceremony on the terrace of MIT’s Endicott House in Dedham on a pleasantly warm spring evening, May 15. Department head Professor Patrick Jaillet announced the winners of the Steinberg Prize, Grossman Award, Tucker-Voss Award, Trond Kaalstad (Class of 1957) Award, and the Maseeh Awards for Excellence in a Teaching Assistant and in Teaching. View slideshow and read more.

CEE doctoral students Amy Mueller and Matt Orosz recently won an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant for economically sustainable programs that protect the environment. Mueller and Orosz — members of the research group of Professor Harold Hemond — have been developing solar power technology to replace polluting diesel generators in remote villages of Lesotho, Africa for several years. Their solar power generator design uses a parabolic trough to concentrate the sun’s energy; it can provide three to five kilowatts of power plus hot water. The EPA award includes a $75,000 grant to help them install a next-generation prototype solar collector at a clinic this fall or early next spring. Mueller and Orosz designed the solar plant to be built using locally available parts and labor. The ultimate goal, Mueller noted, is to teach local residents how to construct the solar power plants, thus providing a business opportunity for residents, as well as strengthening the local electricity infrastructure. Read more.

Denise Brehm, Senior Communications Officer for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, received an Infinite Mile Award for Excellence from the MIT School of Engineering (SOE) last month. The Infinite Mile Awards recognize outstanding contributions by about a dozen SOE staff members annually. In presenting the award, assistant dean Donna Savicki said about Brehm: “During her tenure in the department she has taken the communication role to a whole new level by publishing a monthly newsletter, revamping the department's website (which recently won a Webby award), and raising the public's awareness of the department, school and ultimately the Institute. Her thorough approach to translating technical language into understandable and fascinating stories has created wonderful exposure for the field. She has the unique ability to communicate complex ideas in a simple understandable way, thereby bridging a potential gap between faculty researchers and the general public.” Brehm joined the department in 2006, after a decade working for the MIT News Office. Read more.

Graduate student Matt Orosz is one of 10 MIT students receiving a Fulbright scholarship for study abroad in the 2009-2010 academic year. Prior to beginning his graduate studies in CEE, Orosz lived in Lesotho for two years as a member of the Peace Corps. During that time, he recognized Africa's potential to implement renewable energy sources. Since then, Orosz and other MIT students have collaborated with local organizations in Lesotho to build sustainable solar power installations that local business owners can maintain. They also founded STG (Solar Turbine Group) International with a grant from the World Bank. Next year Orosz will travel to South Africa on the Fulbright to evaluate the technical, economic and social applicability of solar technology for use in low-income housing in that country.

Professor Rafael Bras returned to MIT from his post as dean of engineering at the University of California at Irvine to deliver the annual Killian Lecture and attend a symposium in his honor held March 29-30. About 50 of Bras' former students from around the world gathered for the Symposium in Honor of Rafael Bras. Events included an afternoon of speeches at Parsons Lab, where participants recounted student days amid shared jokes and raucous laughter. Friends and family members enjoyed a dinner with a slide show reflecting many of Bras' unique contributions to life at Parsons. A half-day of scientific presentations by former students preceded the Killian Lecture, which is presented each year by the winner of the James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award, the highest honor bestowed by the MIT Faculty on one of its own. "My wonderful and happy career at MIT was made possible by extraordinary mentors, extraordinary staff and truly extraordinary students," said Bras. "To have this extended family come 'home' together to share this occasion was like a wonderful dream that I will never forget." A video of Bras' speech, "Planet Water: Complexity and Organizations in Earth Systems," can be viewed online at MIT World.

CEE Professor Phillip Gschwend was awarded the Perkins Award at MIT’s Awards Convocation May 5. The Frank E. Perkins Award, named for CEE’s own Professor Frank Perkins who served as Dean of the Graduate School from 1983 to 1995, is given each year to a professor who has served as an excellent advisor and mentor for graduate students. Gschwend has won CEE's own teaching award (the Maseeh Award) three times, and in 1995 he received the Bose Award for Excellence in Teaching from the School of Engineering. Within the field of environmental organic chemistry and geochemistry, his research group studies the environmental fates of "old" pollutants such as PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyl), and anticipates the environmental consequences of producing and using "new" materials such as carbon nanotubes.

Fifteen undergraduates, including CEE sophomore Connie Lu, have been selected for the MIT Arts Scholars program for the 2009-10 academic year. They will join the 15 Arts Scholars currently in the program, which brings together students to explore the diverse arts available at MIT and around Boston, and to interact with fellow students, faculty artists and other experts in the art world. "I enjoy pencil and charcoal sketching, acrylic painting, screenprinting, and I've dabbled in film and digital photography," said Lu, a IE student from Sudbury, Mass. "I am especially interested in the reuse of interesting old objects and fabrics, and like to dress in secondhand clothing. In my own work, I am most inspired by the relationships and current events that surround me, and would like to learn how to convey my emotional reactions to these relationships and events through art."

The CEE website has been named an Official Honoree of the 2009 Webby Awards. The awards are presented each June in New York City by the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences and are often referred to as the Academy Awards of the Internet. Of the nearly 10,000 entries from all 50 states and 60 countries, the judges select five from each category as Official Nominees. Remaining true to the Internet ideal of equality, the winner -- or People’s Nominee -- is selected by Internet voting. The six Official Honorees (as opposed to Official Nominees) of the school/university category are a sort of runner-up distinction that recognizes remarkable achievement. CEE’s 10 peer honorees and nominees include seven art and design schools, one private high school focused on the arts, William Paterson University (two entries) and Florida State University. CEE is the only engineering program to be recognized. Site credits. Webby Awards.

CEE junior S. Balaji Mani is one of 26 MIT sophomores and juniors selected as Burchard Scholars in the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences for 2009. The award recognizes students who demonstrate unusual abilities and academic excellence in the areas embraced by the school. Mani, an environmental engineering science major interested in water and renewable energy, is also an accomplished musician. The Chicago native has traveled to India, Senegal and Ethiopia to play and learn music. “I've always had a craving to get my hands on all the different sounds that I love in music,” said Mani, who plays guitar, drums, piano, Ethiopian harp and Indian instruments. For several semesters he has performed with Rambax, MIT's Senegalese percussion group. This month, his pop music band, The Pears, will enter a contest judged by Rolling Stone magazine at Boston’s Paradise Rock Club, and release its debut album, “Flavors.” Mani also serves as arts editor of The Tech, MIT's student newspaper.

Joseph Sussman, the JR East Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Engineering Systems Division (ESD), appears in Good magazine’s transportation issue. In an interview with Siobhan O’Connor, he explains why the United States should spend more of its infrastructure dollars on high-speed rail and implement congestion pricing to help smooth traffic flow. Read more.

Two CEE people were included in the Spring 2009 issue of MIT Spectrvm: Professor Heidi Nepf and graduate student Amy Mueller. Mueller’s work with the Solar Turbine Group is featured in the cover story, “Here Comes the Sun.” Nepf’s research on aquatic vegetation is the subject of “Restoring Balance: Plant Life Can Help Repair Damage to Nature.” Spectrvm is a publication of MIT’s Office of Resource Development. Read more.

The American Society for Testing and Materials International (ASTM) presented its highest honor, the Award of Merit, at a ceremony in June 2008 to John Germaine S.M. ’80, Sc.D. ‘82, a senior research associate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. This award is given to a member for distinguished service and outstanding participation in ASTM committee activities. A geotechnical specialist, Germaine was recognized for his contributions and leadership in developing and greatly improving existing standards, and for his longtime participation in an ASTM committee on soil and rock. Over the years he has been praised for writing new standards and revising existing standards, for leadership in administrative activities, and for outstanding contributions in research and testing leading to new standards.

Not far beneath the ocean’s surface, tiny phytoplankton swimming upward in a daily commute toward morning light sometimes encounter the watery equivalent of Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone: a sharp variation in marine currents that traps billions of these single-celled organisms and sends them tumbling head over heels until a shift in wind or tide alters the currents and sets them free. Scientists are aware of these thin layers of single-celled creatures and their enormous ecological ramifications, but until now, they knew little about the mechanisms responsible for their formation. The explanation by researchers in MIT’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering of how these common, startlingly dense layers of photosynthetic phytoplankton form, moves the scientific community a step closer to being able to predict harmful algal blooms, a well-known example of which is red tide. The work also opens new perspectives on other phenomena, like predatory feeding by larger organisms at these ecological hotspots. Read more.

Moshe Ben-Akiva, the Edmund K. Turner Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering received an honorary doctorate on Nov. 21 from KTH (the Royal Institute of Technology) in Stockholm, Sweden. The degree recognizes Ben-Akiva as a “visionary and leading researcher within the transport modeling field with strong links to KTH, Swedish transport organizations and the Swedish telecom industry. His unique contributions have led to the development and application of discrete choice analysis theory to transport demand models, and he is considered to be the initiator of the entire modern era within this particular area of research.” Ben-Akiva also co-edited a book titled, “Recent Developments in Transport Modeling: Lessons for the Freight Sector” (Elsevier Science, 2009), with Hilde Meersman and Eddy Van de Voorde of the University of Antwerp.

As part of the MIT Portugal Program, researchers from MIT and Portugal have made progress in developing traffic simulation software that could make it easier for traffic managers to analyze road conditions and ease congestion in real time. DynaMIT, a dynamic simulator based on model-based data fusion software, enables traffic engineers to integrate and analyze data from the dizzying array of information sources that have become available as a result of the proliferation of information and communications technologies—including road sensors, electronic toll collection devices, automatic video processing, global positioning systems, mobile sensor networks and smart phones. The software, developed by CEE Professor Moshe Ben-Akiva and the MIT Intelligent Transportation Systems Lab (ITS), recently underwent a successful demonstration at Brisa, Portugal’s largest toll road management company and an industry partner on the project.  Read more.