Undergraduate Research Opportunities

The Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering offers students the opportunity to work directly with CEE faculty and research staff on a broad range of current topics in environmental, water resources, materials, structural, geotechnical and transportation engineering. Many studies involve significant social, economic and legal factors; many also involve computers, experimental laboratory work or fieldwork. Current environmental problems such as groundwater contamination and acid rain may be addressed. Recent UROPs have co-authored scientific papers based on their CEE UROP research.

CEE UROP Coordinator
Professor Ruben Juanes
617.253.7191
juanes@mit.edu

CEE UROP Payroll
Andre Dixon, assistant to the department head
617.253.1629
aldixon@mit.edu

To see a list of currently available MIT UROP projects, visit the MIT UROP website.

CEE UROP Projects and Supervisors Fall 2009, Spring and Summer 2010

Eric Adams

  • The Effects of Particle Density on Inverted Flume Effeciency as a Draft Source

Moshe Ben-Akiva

  • Collaborative Development of Dynamic Traffic Simulation Models for Beijing
  • iTEAM (Using GPS Data to Develop Methods of Energy Conservation
  • iTEAM

Markus Buehler

  • Amyloids
  • The Structural and Mechanistic Reasons for High Strain to Failure in Alpha-helical Protein Filaments
  • Nanobiology of cell mechanics
  • Molecular Modeling of Thermal Materials For Energy Applications
  • Mutations in Amyloid Beta Helical Structures
  • SIMS: Small-scale Interactive Molecular Simulations

Oral Buyukozturk

  • Debonding of Bi-layer Material Systems under Moisture Effects: A Multi-scale Fracture Approach

Jerome Connor

  • Concrete Beam Preparation
  • Construction of a Mechanical Device
  • Friction-based Vibration Dampener

Edward DeLong

  • Isolating Actinorhodopsins in Freshwater Bacteria

Herbert Einstein

  • Construction and life cycle models for rail lines considering uncertainties
  • Crack Coalesence in Granite
  • Rock Mechanics-Crack Coalescense

John Germaine

  • CRS Clay Testing
  • CRS testing
  • Coiling of Elastic Ropes on moving substrates

Phil Gschwend

  • Mussel Feeding: Evaluating Toxic Levels of Organic Chemicals in Sediment
  • Effect of Fir Needle Harvesting in Kumaon Region of India
  • Conducting Soil Bioaccumulation Tests with Earthworms to Support Results Using Plastic Samplers

Charles Harvey

  • Groundwater Circulation in Waquoit Bay
  • Modeling Nutrient Reaction and Subsurface Transport Mechanisms in Mixed Water Regions

Harry Hemond

  • Environmental Sensor Design
  • Reconstructing a history of metal pollution in Thoreau's Bog, Concord, MA
  • Developing a wireless sensor buoy
  • Sensor Buoy Design
  • Solar thermal energy and industrial waste heat for low temperature adsorption desalination

Ruben Juanes

  • Immiscible Fingering in a Hele-Shaw Cell

Jesse Kroll

  • Secondary Organic Aerosols Observed Through Multiple Generations of Oxidation
  • Elemental Analysis of Secondary Organic Aerosol Component Ratios
  • Development of a New Method for the Determination of Elemental Ratios of Atmospheric Organic Species

Susan Murcott

  • Optimizing Silver-Impregnated Ceramic Water Filters in Ghana

Heidi Nepf

  • The Effect of Aquatic Vegetation on Exchange Flows Driven by a Thermal Gradient
  • Effects of Aquatic Vegetation on Water Currents
  • Observing the Effect of Macroalgae Morphology on Undulation Frequency and Nutrient Flux Mechanisms
  • The Effects of Macroalgae Morphology on Undulation Frequency and Nutrient Flux Mechanisms
  • Observing the effect of macroalgae morphology on undulation frequency and nutrient flux mechanisms

Marcia Osburne

  • Prochlorococcus as a Model for Cross-Scale Biology

Martin Polz

  • Ecological Dynamics
  • Vibrio Cholerae and Vibrio paracholerae natural communities temporal and ecological dynamics
  • Antagonistic Interactions Between Closely Related Marine Bacteria
  • Plasmids in Natural Vibrio Population
  • Ecology and Evolution of Ocean Viruses
  • Plasmids in Natural Vibrio Population II

Yosef Sheffi

  • Latin American Logistics Map

Roman Stocker

  • Virtual Microbe
  • Biofilms and Carbon Sequestration
  • Virtual Microbe Video Game
  • A Circuit Based Approach to Modeling the Flow of Biofilms through a Porous  Medium
  • Educational Game - Microbial Life in the Ocean
  • Continued Exploration into Biofilm Growth Models

Joseph M. Sussman

  • High Speed Rail in the European Union with Implications for the Nation of Bulgaria
  • Implementation and Effects of High Speed Rail in Spain
  • Project evaluation: investigation of learning modalities
  • Analysis of High-Speed Rail Projects Using CLIOS Process

Janelle Thompson

  • Molecular Re-evaluation of Endemic Brazilian Coral Systematics and Localization of Microbial Populations within Corals
  • Characterization of a microbial community exposed to high pressure and supercritical CO2 conditions
  • Characterizing the Microbiome of the Estuarine Cnidarian Nematostella vectensis

Franz-Josef Ulm

  • Combining Nanoindentation and WDS to Study te Chemical Composition of Cement Paste