environmental-engineering

How do hydraulic calculations become a functioning stormwater system in the field? This is the story behind the planning, design and implementation of the Wipfing Bypass retention–infiltration system in Upper Austria.

The waste stream powering electric vehicles and recovering scarce resources might be flowing beneath your office right now.

A high school senior's garage became ground zero for solving a water crisis her community couldn't afford to fix.

Microbiologically induced calcite precipitation (MICP) is widely investigated for soil improvement, surface consolidation, and self-healing concrete, yet concrete crack sealing often fails not because calcium carbonate cannot form, but because precipitates are produced at poorly connected locations. In ureolytic systems, Sporosarcina pasteurii and related bacteria raise pH and carbonate alkalinit…

A child's dinner-table anxiety about contaminated water became a working prototype that could transform how communities detect toxic metal exposure.

This fall, the College of Engineering welcomes nine new faculty across all five of its departments.  “I warmly welcome this group of talented new faculty to our engineering community,” said Patricia Culligan, Matthew H. McCloskey Dean of Notre Dame’s College of Engineering. “They are an outstanding group of educators and researchers who bring expertise in […] The post College of Engineering welco…

A simple tweak to wind turbines—making them audibly hostile to bats—cut fatalities roughly in half, suggesting a low-cost way to protect a species decimated by the renewable energy boom.

Jean MacRae, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Maine, spoke with The Maine Monitor for an article titled “Maine struggling to get homeowners to test […]

A study investigates spontaneous coal combustion in ultra-thick seam mining and evaluates integrated grouting and nitrogen injection for goaf fire prevention.

A professor at Northeastern University has developed a unique firefighting robot that uses liquid nitrogen instead of chemical fire retardants to extinguish flames. The technology could one day help firefighters tackle dangerous wildfires more safely while reducing harm to the environment. The idea began almost by accident nearly 20 years ago. In 2008, Professor Yiannis […] The post New Robot Use…

Nature Communications, Published online: 20 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-75847-3 Confined water selective highways within a densified photothermal membrane enable ultrafast and stable solar driven interfacial evaporation, achieving high-rate clean water production while rejecting highly concentrated ions and strongly polar VOCs, even under extreme conditions

Two faculty members from the University of Notre Dame’s College of Engineering are among the 74 early-career researchers selected to participate in the National Academy of Engineering’s Grainger Foundation Frontiers of Engineering program. Alexander Dowling, Tony and Sarah Earley Collegiate Professor of Energy and the Environment and associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, a…

Engineers discovered that falling rainwater can unexpectedly reverse airflow deep underground, solving a mystery with important implications for mine safety. Operating a facility deep underground means constantly managing two essential challenges: air and water. Fresh air must circulate through tunnels and shafts to keep people safe, while groundwater from rainfall and underground aquifers has to…

This Collection showcases research on engineered assessment methods, contaminant transport analysis, and strategies to manage and protect groundwater resources.

Scientific Data, Published online: 27 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41597-026-07720-3 Minute-Level Dataset from a Naturally Ventilated Building for Benchmarking and Learning-Based Modeling

Flocean has announced that Flocean One, its industrial-scale subsea desalination system, has successfully reached "first water" and is now running at full production capacity. Deployed at 500 metres depth off Norway's west coast, the system is the first of its kind to operate at industrial scale, moving subsea desalination from a long-discussed concept into a working infrastructure model. The pos…

The global shortage of freshwater has become a critical challenge. Conventional water treatment relies heavily on fossil fuels and associated infrastructure, which can make it unsuitable for remote and harsh regions. In contrast, solar thermal evaporation is a promising alternative, but its application is limited by material performance and production constraints. Now, researchers from the [&#823…

USC Viterbi researchers have proved that fracture geometry can suppress unstable flow patterns and enhance fluid mixing, with implications for groundwater remediation, carbon storage, hydrogen storage and energy production. The post A New Way to Control How Fluids Move Through Rock appeared first on USC Viterbi | School of Engineering .