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News
Stanford Report, March 5, 2008
Yang, Yamazaki join president for dedication of 'green' building
When President John Hennessy first approached Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang and his wife, Akiko Yamazaki, about creating an interdisciplinary home for the university's environmental research, "it really hit home for us," Yamazaki recalled Tuesday at the dedication of the building the couple made possible, the Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Environment and Energy Building.
"We felt this was one of the best investments that we could make for the next generation, and our children," she told a crowd of several hundred who gathered around one of the new building's trademark atriums. The Earth's environment will benefit from Stanford's unique ability to tackle complex problems, she said. "We cannot afford not to do something today," she added.
Yamazaki and Yang contributed $50 million toward the building, dubbed Y2E2—shorthand for Yamazaki and Yang, energy and environment.
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Stanford Report, February 13, 2008
James Gere, civil engineer, dead at 82
Co-founder of Blume Earthquake Engineering Center,
founding head of Committee on Earthquake Preparedness
Stanford University Professor Emeritus James M. Gere, 82, who taught engineering for 34 years and co-founded the John A. Blume Earthquake Engineering Center, died Jan. 30 in Portola Valley from a rare form of cancer.
Gere was known for his outgoing manner, his teaching in and out of the classroom, his athleticism and his skill in civil engineering. "He was, without a doubt, the finest engineer and professor and mentor and adviser any student or faculty member ever had, period," said Haresh Shah, a student of Gere's who became a Stanford professor of engineering and retired in 1998.
Gere and Shah founded the Blume Earthquake Engineering Center in 1974, and they co-directed it until 1986. Gere also became the founding head in 1980 of the Stanford Committee on Earthquake Preparedness, which urged campus members to brace and strengthen office equipment, furniture and other things that could pose a hazard if the ground shook.
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Stanford Report, January 9, 2008
Findings on potential for harvesting wind power off California’s coast presented
In many ways, wind energy seems an ideal energy source. Fields of mighty turbines spinning in rhythm could harness carbonless power and shuttle it off to homes and industries. But questions remain about the feasibility of wind parks: How much will they cost? Can this unpredictable energy source be relied upon to contribute appreciably to the country's power needs?
A team of Stanford researchers set out to find answers in a recent study of the California coast and will present their research during a Dec. 13 poster session at this year's meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. The poster is titled "California Offshore Wind Energy Potential."
Michael Dvorak, a Stanford doctoral student in civil and environmental engineering, joined Mark Jacobson, professor of civil and environmental engineering, and Cristina Archer, consulting assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, in evaluating the potential for harvesting wind energy offshore in California.
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Stanford Report, December 20, 2007
Father of modern earthquake risk analysis, and of a Nobel winner, dead at 69
C. Allin Cornell, 69, a professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering who played a pioneering role in earthquake shaking predictions and modern seismic building codes, died Dec. 14 at Stanford Hospital after a lengthy battle with cancer.
With one seminal paper in 1968, "Engineering Seismic Risk Analysis," Cornell's mathematical prowess nudged researchers toward quantifying—spelling out in numbers and probabilities—the risks and hazards of earthquakes.
"Before then, it was mostly, 'Well, let us make a good educated guess,'" said Stanford engineering Professor Emeritus Helmut Krawinkler, a colleague who studies how buildings respond to earthquakes.
"He was brilliant in terms of mathematical probability theory," a foreign subject to a lot of engineers at the time, said Greg Deierlein, a professor in Cornell's department. "It was pretty abstract math on the one hand, but connected to practicality."
Cornell's work dealt with seismic hazards—the probability of a certain degree of ground movement at a particular spot—and seismic risk, usually measured in terms of dollars or lives lost. He advised the U.S. Geological Survey on its seismic hazard maps, which have become guides for a wide variety of users, from prospective homebuyers to urban planners.
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Stanford Report, December 5, 2007
Study finds that linked wind farms can result in reliable power
Wind power, long considered to be as fickle as wind itself, can be groomed to become a steady, dependable source of electricity and delivered at a lower cost than at present, according to scientists at Stanford University.
The key is connecting wind farms throughout a given geographic area with transmission lines, thus combining the electric outputs of the farms into one powerful energy source. The findings are published in the November issue of the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology.
Wind is the world's fastest growing electric energy source, according to the study's authors, Cristina Archer and Mark Jacobson, who will present their findings Dec. 13 at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. Their talk is titled "Supplying Reliable Electricity and Reducing Transmission Requirements by Interconnecting Wind Farms."
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Stanford Report, November 28, 2007
Cleanup method uses activated carbon to anchor toxins to bottom of the bay
Imagine a Brita filter big enough to clean up San Francisco Bay.
Richard Luthy, chair of Stanford's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has a plan to clean polluted sediment at Hunters Point in San Francisco with activated carbon—the same technology in many water filters. Luthy proposes to sequester dangerous toxins by mixing activated carbon, a type of carbon with a large surface area, into the bay's contaminated sediment.
Luthy, the Silas H. Palmer Professor of Civil Engineering, has discovered that certain toxins in mud stick so well to activated carbon that they are rendered much less harmful—like flies stuck to a fly strip. Luthy and his team want to apply this technique to contaminated waterways. They recommended their technique to the U.S. Navy, which is responsible for the cleanup at Hunters Point.
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Stanford Report, October 31, 2007
Media X researchers to explore fusion between the virtual and real worlds
Grants support research projects that show how people use and share information, collaborate in cyberspace
Seven multidisciplinary teams of researchers have been awarded Media X grants to explore "the fusion of virtual and physical worlds for advanced human communications."
...
ShowMeTellMe: Multimodal Learning Experience Mediated by the Future Interactive Paper TextBook
Researchers: Kincho H. Law, professor of civil and environmental engineering, and Renate Fruchter, research associate, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and founding director of the Project-Based Learning Laboratory.
Objective: Using a scenario-based approach, the project will study the continuum between learners' dialogue and paper and pencil sketching to help develop a model of the future interactive paper textbook. For example, it will capture questions and thoughts of the textbook's users and communicate between the learner and instructor, expert or author.
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Stanford Report, September 26, 2007
Novel engineering major to prepare students to tackle climate change, pollution
When Stanford students come back to school this month after a hot summer, they'll be in the ideal frame of mind to consider a new engineering degree that is rare, if not unique, in the United States: the atmosphere and energy major.
The interdisciplinary undergraduate program is being launched as governments and businesses around the world try to reconcile their need for energy with increasing concern about the effects of pollution on human health and the climate.
"The major will create students who will have the skills to do things that are in high demand," said Mark Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering. "To come up with creative solutions to global warming and pollution while also addressing energy needs."
"Problems in the atmosphere are very closely linked to problems with energy," he added. "Global warming, urban air pollution, acid rain and other atmospheric problems are driven by pollution from energy. Right now there is a big disconnect between understanding these issues and solving them."
The undergraduate major, new for the 2007-08 academic year, follows in the footsteps of Stanford's graduate Atmosphere/Energy Program, which has grown quickly since starting in the 2004-05, when 15 students enrolled. The next year, 22 signed up. Applications to the graduate program have grown from 37 three years ago to 70 this year.
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Stanford Report, August 29, 2007
Stanford researchers measure secondhand smoke concentrations in automobiles
It's Labor Day weekend and you have packed the family into the car for the two-hour drive to grandma's house. Because of the heat, you crank the AC and keep the windows closed. The problem is you are a smoker and after just two cigarettes you will have exposed your spouse and kids to particulates at a level well above government safety standards. That's the bottom-line finding of measurements recently published by engineering researchers at Stanford University.
"This is the most comprehensive set of measurements ever made of vehicle air change rates and smoke particulate levels in real driving conditions," says Neil Klepeis, a consulting professor of civil and environmental engineering (CEE) at Stanford. Klepeis co-authored the study published online July 18 in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology. "Conditions in a car with a smoker can vary widely, but in some situations we can confirm that passengers will receive an exposure to secondhand smoke that is considered unhealthful."
Co-author Wayne Ott, also a CEE consulting professor who worked for decades as a scientist at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), noted that legislation banning smoking in cars with children present passed in Arkansas last year and has been considered in seven other states.
"Our hope is that this research can lend rigorously acquired and analyzed, objective scientific information to this debate," Ott says.
Klepeis and Ott collaborated with Stanford statistics and earth sciences Professor Paul Switzer on the paper, which followed an article the team published in June on secondhand smoke exposure in outdoor café settings. That paper, the first of its kind, almost immediately began to be cited in policy debates about regulating outdoor smoking, Ott says.
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Stanford Report, August 27, 2007
Stanford team puts campus on map; wins Google Earth 3-D modeling contest
Recently graduated senior Joseph Bergen is more familiar with the architectural intricacies of Stanford's Main Quad than the average observer. After spending about five hours trying to capture every exterior face of the structure on film for a digital 3-D modeling project—snapping nearly 400 pictures—Bergen noticed the subtle differences between the history and math corners, as well as the strange looks from his peers.
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World Water Week in Stockholm, August 12-18, 2007
Professor Perry L. McCarty from Stanford University, California, a pioneer in the development of the understanding of biological and chemical processes for the safe supply and treatment of water, received the 2007 Stockholm Water Prize on August 16 from the hands of H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.
The Stockholm Water Prize is a global award presented annually to an individual, organisation or institution for outstanding water-related activities. The activities can be within the fields of aid, awareness building and education, technology, management or science.
The Stockholm Water Prize was first presented in 1991 and includes a USD 150,000 award and a crystal sculpture. The Stockholm Water Prize Laureate is announced each March in connection with the UN World Water Day and honoured each August at a Royal Prize Ceremony and Banquet in the Stockholm City Hall during the World Water Week in Stockholm.
Read Press Release (PDF) »
View a short Windows Media film from the ceremony. »
Stanford Report, August 22, 2007
Eco-friendly buildings are big step toward shrinking Stanford's carbon footprint
Whatever the exact size of Stanford's carbon footprint, the university faces one inconvenient truth: An estimated 98 percent of its emissions is generated by energy used in buildings, while just 2 percent comes from Stanford-owned vehicles.
One of Stanford's top sustainability goals, then, is to ensure that future buildings are constructed in a way that conserves as much raw material and energy as possible. A motto adopted by university planners states: "The most sustainable building is the one that is never built."
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Stanford researchers have played pivotal roles in establishing new marine reserves on the California coast, developing more energy efficient building designs and materials, and studying how public attitudes to global warming are changing, among a plethora of other environmental research breakthroughs. With the annual conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists on campus Sept. 5-9, the Woods Institute for the Environment and Stanford News Service have produced a special report — the Green Sheet — to highlight how the university is leveraging its resources to find solutions to the world’s most pressing environmental problems.
Stanford Report, August 8, 2007
Sticking to the beach might not be such good, clean fun
Study detects fecal indicator bacteria in California sand
Just when you thought it was safer to stay out of the water.
Microbes that result in beach closures and health advisories when detected at unsafe levels in the ocean also have been detected in the sand, according to a recent study by a team of Stanford scientists.
Published in the July 1 issue of Environmental Science and Technology, the study found that sand at beaches all along the California coast contained some level of fecal indicator bacteria. Moreover, when the researchers looked closely at the sand quality at a popular beach in Monterey, Calif., they found evidence of human waste—raising doubt about the commonly held belief that some fecal indicator bacteria occur naturally in the sand and are therefore benign.
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Stanford Report, April 18, 2007
Ethanol vehicles pose significant risk to health, new study finds
Ethanol is widely touted as an eco-friendly, clean-burning fuel. But if every vehicle in the United States ran on fuel made primarily from ethanol instead of pure gasoline, the number of respiratory-related deaths and hospitalizations likely would increase, according to a new study by Stanford University atmospheric scientist Mark Z. Jacobson.
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Special Events
Visitation Day for Prospective Graduate Students
Once a year the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University invites all prospective graduate students who have been offered admission to any of the following programs to attend Visitation Day:
- Atmosphere/Energy (AE),
- Construction Engineering & Management (CEM),
- Design/Construction Integration (DCI),
- Environmental Engineering & Science (EES),
- Environmental Fluid Mechanics & Hydrology (EFMH),
- or Structural Engineering & Geomechanics (SEG)
As usual, our Visitation Day is scheduled back-to-back with U.C. Berkeley's visitation day (this year on March 21st), so that students who have applied to both places can conveniently visit them both.
Typical Visitation Day Activities
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 8:30 am - 9:00 am | Registration and continental breakfast |
| 9:00 am - 10:00 am | Department chair presentation: General Orientation |
| 10:00 am - 12:00 noon | Prospective student visitors divide into academic specialties for Group Coordinator-planned activities. |
| 12:00 noon - 1:00 pm | Lunch |
| 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm | Program-specific orientation, campus tour, individual appointments with faculty members. |
Accommodations: Visitors will need to make their own arrangements for accommodations. Please see http://www.stanford.edu/dept/rde/chs/general/hotel.html for a list of local hotels and motels.
Questions? Email cee-admissions@lists.stanford.edu .
Please include your name along with the name of the program to which you have been offered admission.
Seminars
Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Hydrology Seminars
The EFMH seminars are held on Mondays at 12:15 pm in Terman, M-33. Brown bag lunches are welcome.
Environmental Engineering & Science Seminars
The Environmental Engineering and Science (EES) program presents a series of Friday seminars every quarter except summer quarter. They are open to the public and cover a wide range of topics related to environmental science issues. Speakers come from various backgrounds including industry, faculty, and students.
Structural Engineering and Geomechanics Seminars
To subscribe to the seminar mailing list, send an email to majordomo@lists.stanford.edu with "subscribe blume_center_seminar" in the subject line. Leave the body of the email blank.