Sensor Networks and the “Smart Campus": A New Capstone for Civil and Environmental Engineering

The field of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) spans a wide range of cutting-edge topics related to sustainability in the built and natural environments. To match this level of innovation in CEE undergraduate education at MIT, we propose a new senior capstone course focused on pervasive sensing. Each year the class will address a new theme in CEE – air quality, hydrology, transportation, structures, etc. – by designing and deploying a state-of-the-art sensor network for MIT’s campus. Data from this network will be accessible online, in real-time, for both researchers and the wider public. This proposal requests funds to support the development of this new capstone as well as the specific network to be designed in Year 1, aimed at monitoring air quality in and around the campus.