News & EventsDepartment Events
Events
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Sep9
EVENT DETAILS
lessAbstract: Over the past two decades, a profound shift has taken place in
global environmental strategies: the focus has moved from the pursuit
of “zero-energy” buildings to the broader and more urgent goal of “carbon-neutral” urban systems. This transition reflects far more than a change in terminology—it signals a growing awareness of the tangible local impacts of climate change and the urgent need for transformative solutions in urban planning and design.
Yet, from a technical perspective, zero-energy and carbon-neutral objectives differ significantly. Achieving carbon neutrality demands a systemic rethinking of how we design, construct, and manage our built environment—posing challenges that many stakeholders are not yet fully equipped to meet.
In this lecture, Professor Causone will explore this paradigm shift through the lens of applied research, sharing insights from projects at the intersection of energy modelling, environmental simulation, and urban design. These real-world case studies reveal both the potential and the complexity of transitioning to truly carbon-neutral cities.Bio: Francesco Causone is an Associate Professor, lecturing Applied Building Physics and Zero-carbon Building Design at the School of Architecture Urban Planning Construction Engineering of the Politecnico di Milano. His research activity is conducted at the Department of Energy of the same University, where he leads the CRANES Lab (City Research for Architectural aNd Energy Systems).
He holds a master degree in Architecture (cum laude), a PhD in Technical Innovation for the Built Environment and he is a LEED AP. He was awarded the REHVA young scientist award 2012. Prof. Causone has gained world-class industry experience as a Sustainability Researcher at Foster + Partners in London, where he worked on the design and performance assessment of major headquarter buildings in Cupertino and London.
His expertise includes energy and indoor environmental quality assessment in the built environment, and buildings sustainable design. Since 2015 Francesco Causone focused his research interests on Urban Building Energy Modelling (UBEM) and Urban Green Infrastructures (UGI) modelling and assessment. In particular, he was the PI of a National funded project (https://www.urbem.polimi.it/en/) focused on the creation of an Italian database of reference buildings (or archetypes) for UBEM and BEM. He is moreover working with several Italian municipalities and within EU funded projects on the topic of Renewable Energy Communities (RECs), for whom UBEM and reference buildings are an essential basis. Finally, he is working with the Municipality of Milano, to create a CFD-based tool (in OpenFOAM) to model UGI such as parks, green boulevards, etc. to provide useful information to urban planners and decision makers on the thermal effects of urban vegetation to contrast urban heat island and to increase citizens’ well-being.TIME Wednesday, September 9, 2026 at 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
LOCATION A230, Technological Institute map it
CONTACT Charles Martell charles.martell1@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)
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Sep14
EVENT DETAILS
lessEnjoy a welcome from Dean Christopher A. Schuh and other McCormick leaders, and receive a Northwestern Engineering T-shirt. A free breakfast on the Tech East Plaza will follow.
TIME Monday, September 14, 2026 at 9:00 AM - 10:30 AM
LOCATION LR2, Technological Institute map it
CONTACT Andi Joppie andi.joppie@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science
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Sep16
EVENT DETAILS
lessThe Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering's annual Faculty Retreat.
TIME Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
LOCATION 1702 Chicago Ave
CONTACT Andrew Liguori andrew.liguori@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)
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Sep18
EVENT DETAILS
lessThe Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering's annual Back to School Social Event.
TIME Friday, September 18, 2026 at 2:30 PM - 6:30 PM
CONTACT Charles Martell charles.martell1@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)
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Sep22
EVENT DETAILS
lessEnjoy a welcome from Dean Christopher A. Schuh and other McCormick leaders, and receive a Northwestern Engineering T-shirt. A free lunch on the Tech East Plaza will follow.
TIME Tuesday, September 22, 2026 at 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
LOCATION Ryan Family Auditorium, Technological Institute map it
CONTACT Andi Joppie andi.joppie@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science
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Sep23
EVENT DETAILS
lessFall 2026 Classes Begin
TIME Wednesday, September 23, 2026
CONTACT Office of the Registrar nu-registrar@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR University Academic Calendar
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Oct3
EVENT DETAILS
lessThe Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering's 2026 Fall Career Fair.
TIME Saturday, October 3, 2026 at 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
CONTACT Andrew Liguori andrew.liguori@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)
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Oct16
EVENT DETAILS
lessABSTRACT: Pathogenic viruses are responsible for the majority of infectious disease risk from sewage-contaminated water, yet our current monitoring systems were not designed to detect them. Regulatory frameworks rely on bacterial indicators that poorly predict viral risk, and direct viral detection at health-relevant concentrations remains technically challenging given the extraordinary diversity of human viral pathogens. This talk presents our group's work developing quantitative viral metagenomic approaches and identifying robust novel viral indicators for environmental waters, and discusses how this work connects to wastewater-based epidemiology, showing how the same molecular tools that improve water quality monitoring can enable real-time tracking of community disease dynamics as demonstrated during COVID-19 and beyond. I will close with a perspective on how quantitative viral surveillance will reshape both water safety regulations and proactive public health intervention.
BIO: Kyle Bibby, PhD, PE, BCEE is the Keating-Crawford Collegiate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences at the University of Notre Dame, where he also serves as Director of the ECI Water Initiative. His research group focuses on molecular tools for environmental pathogen detection, novel fecal indicator development, and wastewater-based epidemiology. His work has been recognized with an NSF CAREER Award, the 2025 AAEES University Research Grand Prize, and Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher designation in 2023 and 2025. He currently serves on the WHO roster of experts updating the global drinking water quality guidelines.
TIME Friday, October 16, 2026 at 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM
LOCATION A230, Technological Institute map it
CONTACT Charles Martell charles.martell1@northwestern.edu EMAIL
CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)