Water is essential for life on earth and of crucial importance for society. Also within our climate water plays a major role. The natural cycle of ocean to atmosphere, by precipitation back to earth and by rivers and aquifers to the oceans has a decisive impact on regional and global climate patterns.

This course will cover six main topics:

Global water cycle. In this module you will learn to explain the different processes of the global water cycle.
Water systems. In this module you will learn to describe the flows of water and sand in different riverine, coastal and ocean systems.
Water and climate change. In this module you will learn to identify mechanisms of climate change and you will learn to explain the interplay of climate change, sea level, clouds, rainfall and future weather.
Interventions. In this module you will learn to explain why, when and which engineering interventions are needed in rivers, coast and urban environment.
Water resource management. In this module you will learn to explain why water for food and water for cities are the main challenges in water management and what the possibilities and limitations of reservoirs and groundwater are to improve water availability.
Challenges. In this module you will learn to explain the challenges in better understanding and adapting to the impact of climate change on water for the coming 50 years.

In this activity, students will conduct a survey to identify the environmental issues (in their community, their country and the world) for which people are concerned. They will tally and graph the results. Also, students will discuss how surveys are important when engineers make decisions about environmental issues.

Students explore the concept of "reducing" solid waste and how it relates to product packaging and engineering advancements in packaging materials. They read about and evaluate the highly publicized packaging decisions of two major U.S. corporations. Then they evaluate different ways to package items in order to minimize the environmental impact, while considering issues such as cost, availability, product attractiveness, etc. In addition, students explore "hydropulping" and consider its use as a recycling process.

This lesson will introduce students to environmental issues. Students will recognize environmental opinions and perspective, which will help them define themselves and others as either preservationists or conservationists. Students also learn about the importance of teamwork in engineering.

This lesson helps students explore the functions of the kidney and its place in the urinary system. Students learn how engineers design instruments to help people when kidneys are not functioning properly or when environmental conditions change, such as kidney function in space.

Waste disposal has been an ongoing problem since medieval times. Environmental engineers are employed to develop technologies to dispose of the enormous amount of trash produced in the United States. In this lesson, students will learn about the three methods of waste disposal in use by modern communities. They will also investigate how engineers design sanitary landfills to prevent leachate from polluting the underlining groundwater.

This course presents a unique and challenging perspective on the causes of human disease and mortality. The course focuses on analyses of major causes of mortality in the US since 1900: cancer cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, diabetes, infectious diseases. Students create analytical models to derive estimates for historically variant population risk factors and physiological rate parameters, and conduct analyses of familial data to separately estimate inherited and environmental risks. The course evaluates the basic population genetics of dominant, recessive and non-deleterious inherited risk factors.

Students redesign and justify the packaging used in consumer products. Design criteria include reducing the amount of packaging material by 25%.

15.763 focuses on decision making for system design, as it arises in manufacturing systems and supply chains. Students are exposed to frameworks and models for structuring the key issues and trade-offs. The class presents and discusses new opportunities, issues and concepts introduced by the internet and e-commerce. It also introduces various models, methods and software tools for logistics network design, capacity planning and flexibility, make-buy, and integration with product development. Industry applications and cases illustrate concepts and challenges. Recommended for operations management concentrators. Second half-term subject.

This course covers basic topics in autonomous marine vehicles, focusing mainly on software and algorithms for autonomous decision making (autonomy) by underwater vehicles operating in the ocean environments, autonomously adapting to the environment for improved sensing performance. It will introduce students to underwater acoustic communication environment, as well as the various options for undersea navigation, both crucial to the operation of collaborative undersea networks for environmental sensing. Sensors for acoustic, biological and chemical sensing by underwater vehicles and their integration with the autonomy system for environmentally adaptive undersea mapping and observation will be covered. The subject will have a significant lab component, involving the use of the MOOS-IvP autonomy software infrastructure for developing integrated sensing, modeling and control solutions for a variety of ocean observation problems, using simulation environments and a field testbed with small autonomous surface craft and underwater vehicles operated on the Charles River.

Students leach organic matter from soil to create a water sample with high dissolved organic matter content (DOM), and then make filters to see if the DOM can be removed. They experience the difficulties of removing DOM from water, and learn about other processes that might make DOM removal more effective.

Students learn how to find the maximum power point (MPP) of a photovoltaic (PV) panel in order to optimize its efficiency at creating solar power. They also learn about real-world applications and technologies that use this technique, as well as Ohm's law and the power equation, which govern a PV panel's ability to produce power.

The main objective is to provide students with a rational basis of the design of reinforced concrete members and structures through advanced understanding of material and structural behavior. This course is offered to undergraduate (1.054) and graduate students (1.541). Topics covered include: Strength and Deformation of Concrete under Various States of Stress; Failure Criteria; Concrete Plasticity; Fracture Mechanics Concepts; Fundamental Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Structural Systems and their Members; Basis for Design and Code Constraints; High-performance Concrete Materials and their use in Innovative Design Solutions; Slabs: Yield Line Theory; Behavior Models and Nonlinear Analysis; and Complex Systems: Bridge Structures, Concrete Shells, and Containments.

Introduction to continuum mechanics and material modeling of engineering materials based on first energy principles: deformation and strain; momentum balance, stress and stress states; elasticity and elasticity bounds; plasticity and yield design. Overarching theme is a unified mechanistic language using thermodynamics, which allows understanding, modeling and design of a large range of engineering materials.

This course provides an introduction to the study of environmental phenomena that exhibit both organized structure and wide variability - i.e., complexity. Through focused study of a variety of physical, biological, and chemical problems in conjunction with theoretical models, we learn a series of lessons with wide applicability to understanding the structure and organization of the natural world. Students will also learn how to construct minimal mathematical, physical, and computational models that provide informative answers to precise questions.

Students make Moebius strips and use them to demonstrate the interconnectedness of an environment. They explore the natural cycles water, oxygen/carbon dioxide, carbon, nitrogen that exist within the environment.

Presents a rational basis for the preliminary design of motion-sensitive structures. Topics include: analytical and numerical techniques for establishing the optimal stiffness distribution, the role of damping in controlling motion, tuned mass dampers, base isolation systems, and an introduction to active structural control. Examples illustrating the application of the motion-based design paradigm to building structures subjected to wind and seismic excitation are discussed.

Students learn and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of renewable and non-renewable energy sources. They also learn about our nation's electric power grid and what it means for a residential home to be "off the grid."

This lesson will allow students to explore an important role of environmental engineers: cleaning the environment. Students will learn details about the Exxon Valdez oil spill, which was one of the most publicized and studied environmental tragedies in history. In the accompanying activity, they will try many "engineered" strategies to clean up their own manufactured oil spill and learn the difficulties of dealing with oil released into our waters.

This hands-on experiment will provide students with an understanding of the issues that surround environmental cleanup. Students will create their own oil spill, try different methods for cleaning it up, and then discuss the merits of each method in terms of effectiveness (cleanliness) and cost. They will be asked to put themselves in the place of both an environmental engineer and an oil company owner who are responsible for the clean-up.