School of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Our activities in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering cover a broad array of topics ranging from the classical fields of civil engineering, design of sustainable and resilient infrastructure to multiscale soil, water and climate related challenges facing our environment and society. We place a particular emphasis on climate change considerations and adaptation together with digitalization and design of future infrastructure in the face of climate uncertainty. This is done by devising innovative solutions that consider both the human needs and sustainable ways of using Earth’s resources.

Our work focuses on the design, construction, monitoring and maintenance of a wide variety of buildings as well as roads, bridges, railroads, stations, tunnels, airports and ports. Further topics include energy-efficient building refurbishment, drinking water and wastewater management, waste and recycling management, and protection against the forces of nature through dikes, dams and near-natural waterway development. Demographic change and climate change require resource-conserving and adapted environmental design, e.g. in urban redevelopment and reconstruction. Additionally, we employ a wide range of computational and experimental resources to address a broad array of topics related to environmental sciences and engineering including but not limited to soil and coastal processes, hydrologic sciences, sustainable adaptation, water supply, green technology and soil-water-energy nexus. In particular, we are interested to understand how environmental processes are modified in the face of projected climate change and increase in both the severity and frequency of the extreme events threatening natural resources and built environment.