News & Events

Department Events

Events

• Oct

  16

  EES Seminar - Molecular Tools for Water Quality and Public Health Surveillance - Kyle Bibby

  McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

  2:00 PM A230, Technological Institute

  EVENT DETAILS

  ABSTRACT: 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.

  more less

  TIME Friday, October 16, 2026 at 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

  LOCATION A230, Technological Institute    map it

  ADD TO CALENDAR

  CONTACT Charles Martell    charles.martell1@northwestern.edu EMAIL

  CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

• Oct

  23

  Application for degree due to The Graduate School to receive a degree in Fall

  University Academic Calendar

  All Day

  EVENT DETAILS

  Application for degree due to The Graduate School to receive a degree in Fall

  more less

  TIME Friday, October 23, 2026

  ADD TO CALENDAR

  CONTACT Office of the Registrar    nu-registrar@northwestern.edu EMAIL

  CALENDAR University Academic Calendar

• Oct

  23

  EES Seminar - Age is Just a Number - Brian Joyce

  McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

  2:00 PM A230, Technological Institute

  EVENT DETAILS

  Epigenetics, Biological Aging, and Epidemiology

  more less

  TIME Friday, October 23, 2026 at 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

  LOCATION A230, Technological Institute    map it

  ADD TO CALENDAR

  CONTACT Logan Hart    logan.hart@northwestern.edu EMAIL

  CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

• Nov

  4

  CAE Seminar - Prose, Proof, and Pedagogy - MZ Naser

  McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

  11:00 AM A230, Technological Institute

  EVENT DETAILS

  On the Role of Large Language Models and Agents from the Scientific Record to Certified Mechanics and Our Classrooms

  more less

  TIME Wednesday, November 4, 2026 at 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

  LOCATION A230, Technological Institute    map it

  ADD TO CALENDAR

  CONTACT Logan Hart    logan.hart@northwestern.edu EMAIL

  CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

• Nov

  6

  EES Seminar - The Ecology to Inflammation - Thom McDade

  McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

  2:00 PM A230, Technological Institute

  EVENT DETAILS

  How the exposome in infancy influences trajectories of chronic inflammation, aging, and disease

  more less

  TIME Friday, November 6, 2026 at 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

  LOCATION A230, Technological Institute    map it

  ADD TO CALENDAR

  CONTACT Logan Hart    logan.hart@northwestern.edu EMAIL

  CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

• Nov

  11

  CAE Seminar - Using instabilities for functional and adaptive mechanical structures - Paul Ducarme

  McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

  11:00 AM A230, Technological Institute

  EVENT DETAILS

  Could we use instabilities instead of avoiding them? Mechanical instabilities are usually seen as failure modes. However, recent work shows they can instead be harnessed to give structures rapid, switchable, and adaptive behaviors. Snapping instabilities, for example, allow sudden transitions between stable shapes. In this talk, I introduce countersnapping, a new type of snapping instability in which a structure becomes stronger and stiffer as it snaps, giving rise to programmable stiffness, tunable natural frequency, and hinting toward the possibility of domino-like wave propagation. I will discuss some avenues on how mechanical instabilities could be used to reach structural adaptability using propagation waves.

  more less

  TIME Wednesday, November 11, 2026 at 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

  LOCATION A230, Technological Institute    map it

  ADD TO CALENDAR

  CONTACT Logan Hart    logan.hart@northwestern.edu EMAIL

  CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

• Nov

  13

  EES Seminar - Emily Minor

  McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

  2:00 PM A230, Technological Institute

  EVENT DETAILS

  Management of powerline corridors affects biodiversity and provision of ecosystem services in the Chicago metropolitan region

  more less

  TIME Friday, November 13, 2026 at 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

  LOCATION A230, Technological Institute    map it

  ADD TO CALENDAR

  CONTACT Logan Hart    logan.hart@northwestern.edu EMAIL

  CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

• Nov

  16

  Regular registration for Winter quarter begins

  University Academic Calendar

  All Day

  EVENT DETAILS

  Regular registration for Winter quarter begins

  more less

  TIME Monday, November 16, 2026

  ADD TO CALENDAR

  CONTACT Office of the Registrar    nu-registrar@northwestern.edu EMAIL

  CALENDAR University Academic Calendar

• Nov

  18

  CAE Seminar - Fast Permeability Characterization of Geomaterials via Integral-Balance Method - Anh Nguyen

  McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

  11:00 AM A230, Technological Institute

  EVENT DETAILS

  Permeability is a key property governing fluid transport in geomaterials and plays an important role in subsurface energy technologies such as deep geothermal stimulation, geological CO₂ sequestration, and hydrogen storage. In low-permeability rocks, however, conventional permeability measurements such as the classical transient pulse-decay test can take days, making rapid and reliable characterization challenging. This research seeks to infer permeability from the early-time portion of transient pressure measurements using the Integral-Balance Method. The early-time pressure distribution within the rock specimen is first represented by an assumed profile function, and global mass conservation will be then enforced by integrating the governing equations over the evolving difusion front. This technique reduces the original system of partial differential equations describing the test to a system of ordinary differential equations, leading to a robust regression procedure for determining rock permeability from early-time pressure data. A laboratory test using Vermont serpentinite successfully validated the method. Further extension of the framework to field-scale diagnostic tests, such as pressure fall-off test, will also be discussed.

  more less

  TIME Wednesday, November 18, 2026 at 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

  LOCATION A230, Technological Institute    map it

  ADD TO CALENDAR

  CONTACT Ezri Alfie    ezri.alfie@northwestern.edu EMAIL

  CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

• Nov

  19

  TAM Seminar - Making Mechanics Quantum - Vivishek Sudhir

  McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

  10:00 AM A230, Technological Institute

  EVENT DETAILS

  How precisely can we measure and control the motion of an object? Quantum mechanics gives a famously unsettling answer: the act of measurement inevitably disturbs the motion we seek to measure — this is the famous uncertainty principle of Heisenberg, theorized almost exactly 100 years ago. I will describe recent experiments that approach these limits using tangibly macroscopic mechanical oscillators, including the measurement and quantum control of motion of a kilogram-scale mirror, and of a centimeter-scale torsional oscillator. At these scales, quantum mechanics becomes a theory we can test with objects we can see and weigh—opening the possibility of asking whether quantum mechanics survives unchanged in the macroscopic world, and ultimately whether gravity itself must obey quantum rules, one of the pre-eminent problems of modern physics.

  more less

  TIME Thursday, November 19, 2026 at 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

  LOCATION A230, Technological Institute    map it

  ADD TO CALENDAR

  CONTACT Ezri Alfie    ezri.alfie@northwestern.edu EMAIL

  CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

• Nov

  20

  Dissertation, PhD Final Exam, and change of grade forms due to TGS for Fall PhD candidates

  University Academic Calendar

  All Day

  EVENT DETAILS

  Dissertation, PhD Final Exam, and change of grade forms due to TGS for Fall PhD candidates

  more less

  TIME Friday, November 20, 2026

  ADD TO CALENDAR

  CONTACT Office of the Registrar    nu-registrar@northwestern.edu EMAIL

  CALENDAR University Academic Calendar

• Nov

  20

  EES Seminar - Dynamic Rivers - Joaquina Noriega-Jimenez

  McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

  2:00 PM A230, Technological Institute

  EVENT DETAILS

  Investigating Stream Connectivity and Water Quality Across Space and Time

  more less

  TIME Friday, November 20, 2026 at 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

  LOCATION A230, Technological Institute    map it

  ADD TO CALENDAR

  CONTACT Logan Hart    logan.hart@northwestern.edu EMAIL

  CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

• Nov

  25

  Thanksgiving Vacation begins at 6:00 PM (No classes, University offices closed)

  University Academic Calendar

  All Day

  EVENT DETAILS

  Thanksgiving Vacation begins at 6:00 PM (No classes, University offices closed)

  more less

  TIME Wednesday, November 25, 2026

  ADD TO CALENDAR

  CONTACT Office of the Registrar    nu-registrar@northwestern.edu EMAIL

  CALENDAR University Academic Calendar

• Nov

  30

  Fall Classes Resume

  University Academic Calendar

  All Day

  EVENT DETAILS

  Fall Classes Resume

  more less

  TIME Monday, November 30, 2026

  ADD TO CALENDAR

  CONTACT Office of the Registrar    nu-registrar@northwestern.edu EMAIL

  CALENDAR University Academic Calendar

• Dec

  4

  EES Seminar - Sensing Lead (Pb) with DNA - Garrett Dildine

  McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

  2:00 PM A230, Technological Institute

  EVENT DETAILS

  Sensing Lead (Pb) with DNA

  more less

  TIME Friday, December 4, 2026 at 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

  LOCATION A230, Technological Institute    map it

  ADD TO CALENDAR

  CONTACT Logan Hart    logan.hart@northwestern.edu EMAIL

  CALENDAR McCormick - Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE)

• Dec

  5

  Fall classes end

  University Academic Calendar

  All Day

  EVENT DETAILS

  Fall classes end

  more less

  TIME Saturday, December 5, 2026

  ADD TO CALENDAR

  CONTACT Office of the Registrar    nu-registrar@northwestern.edu EMAIL

  CALENDAR University Academic Calendar

• Dec

  7

  Fall Exams begin

  University Academic Calendar

  All Day

  EVENT DETAILS

  Fall Exams begin

  more less

  TIME Monday, December 7, 2026

  ADD TO CALENDAR

  CONTACT Office of the Registrar    nu-registrar@northwestern.edu EMAIL

  CALENDAR University Academic Calendar

• Dec

  12

  Fall exams end

  University Academic Calendar

  All Day

  EVENT DETAILS

  Fall exams end

  more less

  TIME Saturday, December 12, 2026

  ADD TO CALENDAR

  CONTACT Office of the Registrar    nu-registrar@northwestern.edu EMAIL

  CALENDAR University Academic Calendar

• Dec

  12

  Northwestern Engineering PhD Hooding and Master's Recognition Ceremony

  McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science

  4:00 PM Pick-Staiger Concert Hall

  EVENT DETAILSmore info

  The ceremony will take place on Saturday, December 12 in Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, 50 Arts Circle Drive.

  more less

  TIME Saturday, December 12, 2026 at 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

  LOCATION Pick-Staiger Concert Hall    map it

  ADD TO CALENDAR

  CONTACT Andi Joppie    andi.joppie@northwestern.edu EMAIL

  CALENDAR McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science