Sustainable Communities

Sustainable Communities

Tien picked to help lead working group for Atlanta’s ‘roadmap to resilience’

Downtown Atlanta skyline with the Downtown Connector and the eastern edge of Georgia Tech's campus. (Photo: Fitrah Hamid)

Iris Tien will co-lead a working group for the City of Atlanta’s efforts to address inadequate transportation systems and the related risks to the city’s broader infrastructure.

Friday, December 7, 2018

Pilot project will use campus wastewater to grow vegetables

A pilot project funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture will use wastewater nutrients to grow produce on Georgia Tech’s campus to test a model for decentralizing production of vegetables such as these.

Water and land for growing crops are hard to come by in urban areas. Finding more sustainable methods for growing produce in urban areas would have enormous benefits. A pilot project by Georgia Tech’s Yongsheng Chen, a professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, aims to use wastewater from the campus to do just that.

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

NSF awards graduate fellowship to Francisco for work helping people understand their energy use and act more sustainably

Ph.D. student Abby Francisco, who has received a National Science Foundation graduate fellowship. (Photo: Jess Hunt-Ralston)

If we tell people how they’re using energy, can we encourage them to conserve and change their behavior? That question drives School of Civil and Environmental Engineering Ph.D. student Abby Francisco, who has just learned the National Science Foundation is supporting her work through a graduate research fellowship.

Friday, April 20, 2018

Watkins extols virtues of parks as transportation infrastructure in 'Governing' op-ed

Screeen capture of Governing op-ed by Kari Watkins and Cathering Nagel, "Urban Parks' Emerging Role as Transportation Infrastructure"

Parks — especially linear parks — are emerging as viable and popular transportation corridors in cities around the country and connecting once-divided neighborhoods, according to a commentary published by Governing magazine Nov. 28.

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Smart Cities: Innovative approaches combining engineering, technology and the social sciences are boosting the urban IQ

Smart Cities graphic with a rendering of the city of Atlanta.

Georgia Tech has been intensifying its smart cities initiative, including membership in the national MetroLab Network and the launch of a new faculty council with members from more than a dozen university units. Tech has long been working in the, but the now the Institute is organizing all the research that’s happening to have a bigger impact.

Friday, July 21, 2017

Which bicycle infrastructure makes riders safer? Turns out, we don’t yet know

A bicyclist rides in a marked bike lane alongside a multi-lane road in Lutz, Florida. A new study of bicycle infrastructure from a team of School of Civil and Environmental Engineering researchers has found we don’t know much yet about how well bicycle infrastructure like these lanes protect riders. (Photo Courtesy: Daniel Oines via Flickr.)

Shared lane markings. Bike lanes painted a bright color. Bike boxes at intersections. Cycle tracks that provide physical barriers between bikes and cars. Communities have built these and other flavors of infrastructure to try to make it safer for people to ride their bikes along roadways or through neighborhoods. But which ones work best?

Friday, June 9, 2017

Building healthier cities: 10 questions with Ted Russell

Howard T. Tellepsen Chair Armistead "Ted" Russell (Photo: Justen Clay/Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine)

Tech Environmental Engineering Professor Armistead “Ted” Russell has traveled the world, including China, India and Minneapolis, studying air quality and its impacts on urban life. He is also part of a team of scientists, policymakers and industrialists working with a U.S. National Science Foundation Sustainability Research Network to build better cities.

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Liquid Assets: Tech researchers are working to solve the world’s water problems

Water drop

From the drinking-water contamination in Flint, Mich., to the seemingly endless drought in California, good old H2O pools at the heart of many of today’s most pressing and headline-grabbing problems. Find out how the work and ideas of Tech researchers are helping us understand — and solve — these planet-wide challenges.

Monday, January 9, 2017

Sustainability, emissions, travel behavior among challenges researchers will tackle in 6 new University Transportation Centers

U.S. Department of Transportation map showing all of the newly funded University Transportation Centers and the affiliated universities.

The U.S. Department of Transportation announced Dec. 5 it would invest $300 million in new research through University Transportation Centers, including half a dozen where the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering will play a significant role.

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Burning trash in India major cause of Taj Mahal discoloration, leads to hundreds of premature deaths

The Taj Mahal (Photo: Michael Bergin)

Researchers from the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering have found burning trash around the Taj Mahal is not only a major factor in the monument’s discoloration, it’s contributing to hundreds of premature deaths each year. The new study, published Oct. 7 in the journal Environmental Research Letters, builds on previous work that led local communities to ban burning of cow dung cakes, a common cooking fuel.

Friday, October 7, 2016
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Map of School of Civil and Environmental Engineering

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
Mason Building, 790 Atlantic Drive, Atlanta, GA 30332-0355
Phone: 404-894-2201
Fax: 404-894-2278