The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering is pleased to announce the following faculty have been granted tenure by MIT:

Otto Cordero was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure effective July 1, 2022. Cordero’s research looks at the interconnection between the Earth and microbes and how these diverse communities of organisms work together. Microbes carry enormous influence in our environment. They produce more than half of the planet’s oxygen, form the base of marine food, and play a huge role in recycling carbon throughout the environment. His lab develops a systems level understanding of how microbial communities assemble, function, and evolve in order to predict their response and impact on our environment.

Caitlin Mueller was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure effective July 1, 2022. Mueller has joint appointments in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Architecture. Mueller’s research is at the interface of architecture, structural engineering and computation. Her Digital Structures group focuses on the creative design and fabrication of buildings, bridges and other large-scale structures using digital techniques and tools for more sustainable construction. Her latest research upcycles discarded tree forks to reuse as load-bearing steel joints to lower the embodied carbon of steel.

Desiree Plata, the Gilbert W. Winslow Associate Professor was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure effective July 1, 2022. Plata’s research examines the impact of industrially generated chemicals on the environment and finds solutions for a cleaner, sustainable planet. One of those technical solutions being developed in her lab is using the mineral zeolite, often found in cat litter, to remove methane from the atmosphere. Methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, and it has a pronounced effect within first two decades of its presence in the atmosphere.