research | Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences

Rain changes the equation for how oceans absorb carbon dioxide

Before the Industrial Revolution, the world’s oceans exchanged roughly equal amounts of carbon dioxide with the atmosphere. Today, by absorbing a significant share of human-generated CO₂ emissions, they play a vital role in slowing the buildup of this greenhouse gas in the …

Gray-haired man in red glasses writes data, observing samples inside a blue-lit ATLAS X-ray machine.

New elemental analysis instrumentation to strengthen CEST’s interdisciplinary research mission

Notre Dame’s Center for Environmental Science and Technology (CEST) recently purchased a new x-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy instrument that significantly improves the center’s capabilities in surface chemistry analyses. The new installation builds on the analytical …

Advancing precision tools for tracking antibiotic resistance

Every year, nearly 5 million people die from causes related to antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the phenomena by which microorganisms like bacteria evolve to resist the drugs designed to kill them. AMR poses a growing threat to global human health, as it diminishes the ability of common antibiotics …

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover sits on a rocky, dusty Martian landscape beneath a hazy orange sky

Notre Dame scientist part of NASA team unlocking Mars’ chemical past

Today, Mars is a radioactive icebox covered in rust, but billions of years ago, it was warm, wet and blue-skied. Could life, in some form, have once called the Red Planet home? In a milestone study published in Nature Communications, an international team of scientists, including Ross …

Kyle Doudrick wearing glasses and a white lab coat over a light green shirt, standing with a neutral expression in a laboratory.

Notre Dame Engineering’s Kyle Doudrick named to EPA Science Advisory Board

Kyle Doudrick, associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences at the University of Notre Dame, has been selected to serve on the Science Advisory Board of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The board, which consists of 37 …

Nighttime city view with many lit buildings. Two industrial chimneys, one black and one white, glow red at their tops while releasing thick white smoke into the dark, cloudy sky.

New tool tracks cross-border pollution, revealing unequal distribution of risk, responsibility

Microscopic airborne particles known as PM 2.5 contribute to 100,000 premature deaths in the United States each year. A new University of Notre Dame study finds that 40 percent of these deaths can be attributed to pollution that crosses state lines, highlighting the impact of the problem and …

The Vaisala FD70 sensor, a piece of equipment used by researchers in northern Alaska, is decorated with white string lights, red beaded garland, and red Christmas ornaments.

Shedding Light on Ice Fog in the Darkness of Polar Night

Ice fog—a curtain of tiny ice crystals suspended above the earth’s surface—reduces visibility and makes air travel treacherous. How ice fog forms and why it persists is not entirely understood, and this has led to inaccurate forecasts, particularly visibility predictions that are critical …

Four smiling Postdoc Spotlight finalists stand in a Notre Dame lecture hall. Screens behind them display "Notre Dame Postdoc Spotlight Finals" and university logos. A man in a blue vest, a woman in a white turtleneck, a woman in a black blazer, and a man in a dark suit are pictured.

Breakthrough Research. Talented Scholars. Inaugural Notre Dame’s Postdoc Spotlight Delivers.

The concept wasn’t new—the competition challenged scholars to present their complex research in just three minutes, equipped with a single slide, in a way that anyone could understand. While the Graduate School has hosted the Shaheen Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition for graduate students …

Notre Dame opens applications for 2026 Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellowship program

The University of Notre Dame is accepting applications for the next cohort of Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellows, a select group of early-career scholars in science, engineering, and the liberal arts who are committed to Notre Dame’s mission to be a powerful force for good in the world. Up to …

Satellite image of a hurricane with a distinct eye over a blue gridded map.

Fighting to improve hurricane forecasts

David Richter, the Frank M. Freimann Collegiate Professor of Environmental Fluid Dynamics in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences, and fellow Notre Dame researchers are improving hurricane forecast accuracy, giving officials time to evacuate and protect …

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