Researchers across the Pratt School of Engineering are exploring many strategies to combat climate change and build resilience through engineered adaptation and mitigation strategies. Some of the research on these topics in Pratt includes the following:
- Carbon-Sequestering Cement: Assistant Professor Laura Dalton’s team is researching alternative cement mixtures that can capture and store carbon, a promising strategy for reducing emissions in construction.
- Urban Heat Modeling: Professors Mike Bergin and David Carlson, along with Ph.D. student Zach Calhoun, have refined urban heat models using citizen-reported data, and showed that underserved areas often experience more extreme heat than traditional models suggest.
- Direct-Air Carbon Capture: Assistant Professor Liang Feng, a Sloan Foundation Scialog Fellow in Negative Emission Science, focuses on enhancing materials for direct-air carbon capture, working to prevent degradation of these materials over time.
- Geothermal Storage for Duke’s Campus: Associate Professor Manolis Veveakis and Nicholas School Professor Emeritus Peter Malin are investigating geological materials under Duke’s Central Campus to store water for heating and cooling, potentially reducing campus energy use.
- Renewable Energy Materials: Researchers in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, in collaboration with Chemistry, are exploring perovskite crystals for their potential in efficient, scalable renewable energy applications.
Pratt’s innovations hold promise for both adapting to and mitigating climate change, using engineering solutions with practical and scalable impacts.