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Summer 2025 Newsletter
 
 
Update from our Chair
 
 
Department Chair Sarah Billington
 
 
 
Dear Stanford Civil & Environmental Engineering Alumni, Friends, and Community,


We’ve been enjoying great weather on the Farm this summer and hope this newsletter finds you all well. In June we graduated over 200 CEE students awarding 33 BS, 164 MS, 2 ENG, and 27 PhD degrees! I'm glad to share a link to our CEE commencement page, where you can learn more about the wonderful achievements of our students, staff, and faculty.

The celebration of our graduates came close on the heels of two other great celebrations this past spring. On May 9, we welcomed over 200 alumni, friends, and family to campus to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the John A. Blume Earthquake Engineering Center. One week later, on May 15 we celebrated SoE’s 100th birthday with many of our faculty, staff, and students participating in the hands-on showcase with demonstrations and activities related to our research in the areas of the Future of Water, Sustainable Cities, and the Future of Work. More on these events can be found below.  


We hope you enjoy our department highlights in this newsletter. We look forward to staying connected throughout the upcoming academic year. I also encourage you to reach out to our many recently retired faculty who would love to hear from you! You can find their emails on our department webpage. We are grateful for your support and continued engagement in the Stanford Civil & Environmental Engineering community.


Sincerely,

Sarah Billington
UPS Foundation Professor and Chair
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
 
 
 
 
 
Department Spotlight
 
 
A view of water flowing through a city
 
 
Researchers pioneer new water management model to help avert drought crises


In partnership with Chilean experts, CEE Professor Sarah Fletcher and scientists are working to help policymakers integrate long-term environmental and social changes into water governance.


Read more

 
 
 
 
 
Awards & Recognitions
 
 
Maria Correa
 
Maria Correa
 
BS '25 - Environmental Systems Engineering

Maria Correa was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Australia. She will investigate transportation access and mobility for low-income migrant individuals in Western Sydney in collaboration with Western Sydney University and Transport for New South Wales.
 
 
Professor Anne Kiremidjian
 
Professor Anne Kiremidjian
 
Structural Engineering and Mechanics

Professor Kiremidjian received the 2024-25  Eugene L. Grant Teaching Award for her dedication and excellence in undergraduate teaching in our department.
 
 
 
This year two of our CEE students have been honored by the university as Centennial Teaching Assistants:
 
 
Alonso Vargas Perez
 
Alonso Vargas Perez
 
MS '25 - Sustainable Design and Construction
 
 
Giancarlo Ventura
 
Giancarlo Ventura
 
PhD Candidate - Structural Engineering and Mechanics
 
 
 

Since 1989, the Centennial Teaching Assistant program has recognized and rewarded outstanding contributions to teaching in the schools of Humanities and Sciences, Engineering, and the Doerr School of Sustainability. A committee of faculty selected the winners from a pool of excellent teaching assistants based on their extraordinary performance.
 
 
 
 
 
Other department news
 
 
Q&A with CEE Professor Richard Luthy, urban water expert
Professor Luthy spoke with Water & the West about ways to plan for a more water-resilient future. His research focuses on ways to ensure that water overflows in both urban and rural California can be captured and stored underground. This is increasingly essential in light of reduced ability to construct new dams for overground storage.

Stanford launches free website for public to learn about extreme energy efficiency
Joel Swisher and Amory Lovins—both adjunct faculty members of CEE—have launched an Extreme Energy Efficiency Learning Hub, where anyone can learn how the practice of integrative design could deliver unchanged or improved energy services while spending less money and using a fraction of the energy.

The opportunity costs of carbon capture
Professor Mark Jacobson and other researchers found widespread deployment of technologies that pull carbon dioxide from industrial flues and ambient air would be much more expensive and damaging than a hypothetical worldwide switch to electricity and heat from renewable sources – if energy costs, emissions, and health impacts are all taken into account.

Research from Ram Rajagopal's lab uses grid physics and generative AI to pinpoint underutilized electricity capacity across utility networks. The research has been licensed by a faculty-founded company to help bring infrastructure online in 6-12 months.

Tiziana Vanorio, associate professor of Earth and planetary sciences and, by courtesy, of CEE, is reinventing cement with a radically lower carbon footprint.

William Tarpeh, assistant professor of chemical engineering and, by courtesy, of CEE, and a team of researchers are working to develop a way to make wastewater drinkable, while also recovering valuable products like fertilizer components. By turning wastewater pollutants into valuable chemical products, they can help achieve sustainability goals, enable circular economies, and mitigate pollution.

 
 
 
 
 
Community Spotlight
 
 
Jill_Filice_Commencement2025-cropped.png
 
Jill Filice
 
After 35 years of service, Jill Filice was celebrated at Commencement for her impact on students and faculty.
 
 
Matt Rose Awarded - cropped.png
 
Matt Rose
 
Matt Rose was selected for a School of Engineering Staff Service Award for his community-building efforts.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Recent Events
 
 
Blume 50th Anniversary Attendees
 
Blume Earthquake Engineering Center turns 50
 

On May 9, 2025, the John A. Blume Earthquake Engineering Center marked its 50th anniversary with a day-long symposium of more than 200 faculty, students, alumni, and industry leaders celebrating five decades of pioneering research and education in earthquake engineering.
 
 
 
100 Years of Stanford Engineering
 
Celebrating 100 years of Stanford Engineering!
 
On May 15, 2025, exactly 100 years since the official start of the School of Engineering, about 3,000 people gathered to mark the occasion and celebrate with over 50 hands-on research exhibits hosted by faculty, students, and staff.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Share your story
 
 
Students at Civil and Environmental Engineering Commencement
 
 
CEE alumni, share with us what you've been up to for a chance to be featured in our upcoming newsletter.