Research Projects

CLEETS Global Center

The goals of the Clean Energy and Equitable Transportation Solutions (CLEETS: NSF-UKRI) Global Center is to conduct research on three main areas: clean and fair transportation, transportation energy and infrastructure, and climate change. Primarily the center will perform interdisciplinary research and education to expedite the development of fair, practical, low-carbon road transportation solutions. This endeavor involves collaboration with government entities, private sector organizations, industries, and communities of end-users.

CLEETS website: https://www.cleets-global-center.org/ 

NSF award #2330565                 

e-JUST — Environmental Justice using Urban Scalable Toolkit

This NASA environmental justice (EJ) project propose a web-based visualization toolkit that allows accessing and analyzing data from Earth science and high-resolution climate model outputs to spread information and support decision-making regarding air quality and heat in the Chicago metropolitan area. Also, users will be able to explore complementary environmental and social datasets to co-identify extreme heat and air quality threats to health, equity, and crime to improve urban decision-making.

NASA award #80NSSC20K1342

Urban hydrometeorology & sustainability

This project aims to contribute to understanding the interactions of urban systems with storms and heatwaves to mitigate the impacts of climate change in urban environments. Several factors influence this context, including the relationship between urban processes and properties of the earth’s surface, atmospheric chemistry, and human adaptive choices. In this case, numerical modeling is an essential tool for this purpose.

NSF award #2139316

International partnerships for accelerating climate-ready, sustainable, and clean urban transportation

In this multi-institutional and multidisciplinary Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE) project, we are developing a use-inspired integrated coupled infrastructure framework across multiple cities in India with high potential to scale our design framework for South Asian and global cities facing similar air quality issues and considering a path to investments in clean transportation.

NSF-PIRE award #2230772

From Science to Nature-Based Solutions in the Chicago Region

This project aims to support decision-making to mitigate the impacts of climate change in susceptible Chicago communities. To do so, we work with newly-developed, high-resolution climate models and regional planning and policy experts to identify and assess nature-based solutions around climate extremes.

Walder Foundation award

Urban Hydrology – Flood Risk Assessment

Flowing Through City Veins: The Hydrology of Urban Life

Hypothetical simulation of Flood Inundation maps generated using an Integrated SWMM-HEC Model. The animation shows flood propagation on a high-resolution Google Earth image for a small urban stretch in the Chicago region.

Community Research on Climate and Urban Science (CROCUS)

The CROCUS team studies urban climate change and its implications for environmental justice in the Chicago region. It conducts novel observational science and creates highly accurate climate models. This information will lead to new insights on current and future urban climate challenges and will inform future actions for mitigating and adapting to climate change at the street, neighborhood, and regional levels. 

CROCUS website: https://crocus-urban.org/ 

DOE urban-IFL contract #DE-AC02- 06CH11357