Digital Commons Network^™

Environmental Ethics And Impact Of Artificial Intelligence Data Centers, Jacky Yang

Discovery Day - Daytona Beach

Data centers, including artificial intelligence (AI) facilities, serve as the backbone for many modern digital services and products. With the rapid digitization of society, the expansion of these centers in the United States has accelerated significantly. From an anthropocentric and utilitarian perspective, they provide economic benefits, supporting employment and generating public revenue. However, they can also create a significant amount of environmental and societal challenges. From an ecocentric and environmental justice perspective, AI data centers has contributed to increased competition for the limited resources, such as water, electricity, and land and has been linked to rising utility costs, noise pollution, …

Machine Learning For Predictive Energy And Emissions Modeling Of Vehicles And Power Grids In The United States, S M Tanvir Faysal Alam Chowdhoury

Dissertations

The environmental benefits of electric vehicle (EV) adoption depend on more than replacing internal combustion engine vehicles with electric powertrains. EV adoption reshapes electricity demand, interacts with regional generation mixes, and influences travel behavior and congestion, creating a coupled transportation-energy system in which vehicle and power-plant emissions must be evaluated together. This dissertation develops machine-learning frameworks for predicting energy consumption and emissions from vehicles and power grids under rising EV adoption. The first component forecasts grid emissions from EV charging. Using simulation data from NREL's Cambium database, a Prophet-based time-series framework predicts carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane emission rates …

Summer Proceedings 2026, Computational Modeling Serving Portland, The Altreu Program, Portland State University, Teuscher Lab, Portland State University

altREU Projects

The 2026 Summer Proceedings bring together research conducted by undergraduate students participating in three complementary programs at Portland State University: the National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates (NSF REU) site, Computational Modeling Serving Portland; the alternative Research Experiences for Undergraduates (altREU) program, Designing, Programming, and Using Computers to Benefit Society; and the Teuscher Lab internship program.

The NSF REU is a fully virtual, 10-week program centered on computational modeling that serves Portland and the greater region. Students begin with two weeks of intensive training in computational modeling, followed by eightweeks of mentored research with faculty, research collaborators, and community …

Autonomous Rover Solar And Battery Management System: Team B, Karla Jazmin Lira Gonzalez, Paige Ambriz, Kunj Shah, Elhom Delasa Sheykhi

Electrical Engineering

This project focused on the software and printed circuit board (PCB) integration for Poly1Rover’s battery management system (BMS). Poly1Rover is a student organization dedicated to building a low-cost autonomous rover designed to operate on Mars. Since solar availability, temperature, and other conditions on Mars vary, the rover requires a reliable battery management system that accurately monitors battery health and status. This team’s work included the communication and control side of the BMS. The subsystem was designed around the Renesas ISL94202 battery monitor and the MSP430 controller. Battery information was read from the ISL94202 registers through I2C communication, converted from raw …

A Multi-Objective Optimization Framework For Equitable Stormwater Management In Urbanizing Rural Communities, Harry L. Wilson

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Due to limited technical and financial resources, urbanizing rural communities often face growing stormwater management challenges while undergoing rapid development. This thesis proposes a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) framework that integrates topography-driven stormwater flow behavior, infrastructure placement constraints, and multiple planning objectives to support cost-effective stormwater infrastructure decisions. Our model accounts for budget constraints, gravity-driven surface water flow, infiltration capacity, and spatial contiguity requirements to determine optimal pond placements that balance flood reduction and implementation costs. A synthetic discretized grid representing a small municipality is used to demonstrate model behavior under varying rainfall and topographic conditions. Results demonstrate the framework's …

Humanizing Engineering For Preservice Elementary Teachers Through Sustainable Engineering Stories, Jeffrey D. Radloff, Madison M. Morris, Jacob Pleasants

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Meeting the goals of US K–12 science education reform requires that preservice elementary teachers (PSTs) understand engineering as a specialized discipline and a human endeavor that addresses real-world issues. Yet in their formal education, few PSTs receive opportunities to learn about the humanistic dimensions of engineering: engineers’ personal values and motivations, the sociocultural nature of engineering work, and the societal significance of engineering. Storytelling about engineering offers a practical way to give PSTs access to these ideas. This study examines the impacts of integrating storytelling about engineering in a science methods course for future elementary school teachers. Over a two-year …

Scale-Dependent Particle Transport Over Urban-Like Roughness In Turbulent Flow, Rae Riddle

Dissertations and Theses

This study employs direct numerical simulation (DNS) to investigate the dispersion of inertial particles in turbulent flow over three-dimensional urban-like roughness at Reτ = 200. Particles with Stokes numbers St = 5, 25, and 100 are tracked over cubic arrays with spanwise spacings Sy from 2h to 32h, where h = δ/8 and δ is the half-channel height, alongside a smooth-wall reference case. The results reveal scale-dependent particle responses characterized by three distinct regimes. First, high-inertia particles (St = 100) align strongly with mean secondary flows, exhibiting organized plumes above roughness elements. Their vertical transport peaks at intermediate spacing …

Impact Of Urban Roadway Work Zones On Road Users And Other Stakeholders, Lyndsey Renee Harris

Lyles School of Civil Engineering Graduate Student Reports

As urban populations continue to rise at an unprecedented rate, the need for highly maintained infrastructure in cities -- buildings, utilities, and transportation networks -- has become increasingly critical. An urban work zone refers to a designated area within a city where roadway construction, maintenance, or rehabilitation activities are taking place. These zones are typically characterized by high traffic volumes, complex roadway networks, and proximity to residential, institutional, and commercial land uses. Urban work zones often involve lane closures, detours, reduced speed limits, and temporary traffic control measures to ensure safety for road workers and road users. Due to the …

The Impact Of Integrating Social Benefit Requirements For Urban Green Infrastructure And Place Identity Attributes To Enhance The Sense Of Place - Case Study Of Central Park, Madinaty, New Cairo City, Egypt, Ibrahim Magdi Mohammed, Rehab Abdelfatah Abdel Aziz Mahmoud

Mansoura Engineering Journal

This research develops an integrated model that links the social benefit requirements of Urban Green Infrastructure (UGI) with the non-physical attributes of Place Identity (PI) to enhance the Sense of Place (SOP) in contemporary urban environments. The need for this integration arises from limitations in current planning frameworks, which often prioritize ecological performance while overlooking cultural, perceptual, and behavioral dimensions that shape user attachment and belonging. The study adopts an inductive and synthesis-based approach to identify key UGI indicators across environmental, social, economic, and spatial dimensions, alongside PI attributes related to places’ legibility, uniqueness, publicness and territoriality, place’s identification. To …

A Proposed Vision To Activate Smart Urban Growth Concepts For The New Egyptian Cities, Nirman M. El-Sayed, Mamdouh A. Al-Minshawi

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Smart urban growth is the ideal solution to urban problems within the cities of the fourth generation in Egypt, and despite this, most of them depend on traditional urban thought without activating "Smart Urban Growth", which is known to maintain lands from deterioration and make societies suitable for living and providing the necessary services. The goal of research to set standards to activate smart urban growth as a thought that keeps pace with sustainable urban development and Egypt's 2030 vision, work to use the global smart cities approach and how they reach intelligence. While the research follows the "analytical" deductive …

Hold Paramount The Health, Safety, And Welfare Of The Public And The Planet, Daniel B. Oerther

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Resilience By Design: A Multi-Metric Assessment Of Urban Vulnerability Across Human-Centric, Built, And Climatic Environment Dimensions, Karim Abdelhady

Theses and Dissertations

Urban resilience and sustainability have emerged as fundamental imperatives in contemporary urban planning, as cities face mounting pressures from climate change, population growth, and increasing socio-economic disparities. Resilient urban systems are not only those that withstand shocks, but also those that ensure the long-term well-being, equity, and functionality of their environments. As such, advancing the capacity to systematically evaluate resilience across spatial and temporal scales is critical to informing adaptive, forward-looking planning strategies. Despite a growing body of research on urban resilience, prevailing approaches remain limited in scope and resolution. Many studies tend to examine resilience through isolated lenses—focusing either …

When Disasters Trigger Cyber Vulnerabilities: Mapping Physical-Digital Interdependencies In Critical Infrastructure Systems, Dikshya Panta, Sicheng Wang, Aditya Sapkota, Prakash Ranganathan

Faculty Publications

Critical infrastructure (CI) systems such as power, water, communications, and emergency services are increasingly exposed to compound risks in which natural disasters and cyber incidents interact and amplify one another. Traditional risk assessments often isolate physical and digital threats, overlooking the cascading dependencies that emerge when operational stress, emergency reconfiguration, and adversarial exploitation coincide. This study conducts a 2019–2025 scoping review and introduces a Geographic Information System (GIS) driven six-stage disaster cyber compounding framework that characterizes, maps, and operationalizes compound risk across interdependent CI sectors. The framework integrates a common operating picture, analytic situational understanding, exposure mapping, threat-fingerprint encoding, detection …

Localized Air Pollution Impacts From Data Centers In Northern Virginia, Damian Pitt, Ivan Suen, Ellie Plisko

Institute for Sustainable Energy and Environment Publications and Presentations

This report examins the extent of air pollution emissions resulting from the use of backup generators at data centers in Northern Virginia, including both actual current emissions and potential future emissions, and how those emissions totals compare to other sources of air pollution in the Northern Virginia region. It also examines how exposure to data center emissions correlates with demographic characteristics such as race, income, and education.

We while the air pollution emissions from individual data centers is minor, the collective impact from the 100+ such facilities in the Northern Virginia region is significant. Notably, the cumulative emissions exposure in …

Environmental Engineers Develop Solutions To Problems Of Planetary Health: The Legacy Of Professor P. Aarne Vesilind, Daniel B. Oerther

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The principal ethical obligation of the engineering profession, to "hold paramount the health, safety, and welfare of the public," has been challenged for decades. Professor P. Aarne Vesilind identified two primary deficiencies: an anthropocentric bias that values nature only instrumentally and the use of non-mandatory, aspirational language for environmental protection, which resulted in the exclusion of enforceable environmental canons. This paper argues that two recent developments provide a comprehensive response to Vesilind's recommendations for engineering ethics. First, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics has redefined environmental engineering as "developing solutions to problems of planetary health." Second, Oerther proposed a …

Application Of Passive Samplers For Exploring Remedial Progress In The Torch Lake Aoc And Interlake Variability Of Pcbs, Cailin B. Bishop

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This study evaluates changes in dissolved polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) concentrations in Torch Lake, Michigan, an Area of Concern shaped by decades of legacy contamination and evolving restoration policy. Passive samplers deployed across sites and seasons (2024–2025) show total PCB concentrations ranging from below detection to 110 pg/L (mean = 16.8 pg/L), representing an approximate 90% decline since 2005. Comparisons with regional reference lakes indicate no statistically significant difference (p = 0.84), suggesting concentrations may approach background atmospheric levels despite continued variability. Congener profiles indicate a shift toward lower-chlorinated PCBs, though interpretation of higher-chlorinated congeners is limited by slow sorption kinetics. …

Sustainable Nutrient Management Opportunities For Small Communities In The U.S. With Lagoon Wastewater Treatment Systems, Denis Sigei Ruto

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Lagoon wastewater treatment systems are among the most widely used secondary treatment technologies serving small and rural communities in the United States due to their low capital and operating costs, minimal energy requirements, and operational simplicity. While effective for removal of organic matter and suspended solids, most lagoon systems were not designed to achieve advanced nutrient removal. As regulatory priorities increasingly emphasize control of total nitrogen and total phosphorus to protect receiving waters and public health, lagoon-dependent communities face growing compliance challenges. These challenges are exacerbated by aging infrastructure, limited technical capacity, financial constraints, and insufficient infrastructure data, highlighting the …

Nature-Based Solutions For Urban Resilience And Environmental Justice In Underserved Coastal Communities: A Case Study On Oakleaf Forest In Norfolk, Va, Farzaneh Soflaei, Mujde Erten-Unal, Carol L. Considine, Faeghe Borhani

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Climate change and sea-level change (SLC) are intensifying flooding in U.S. coastal communities, with disproportionate impacts on Black and minority neighborhoods that face displacement, economic hardship, and heightened health risks. In Norfolk, Virginia, sea levels are projected to rise by at least 0.91 m (3 ft) by 2100, placing underserved neighborhoods such as Oakleaf Forest at particular risk. This study investigates the compounded impacts of flooding at both the building and urban scales, situating the work within the framework of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). A mixed-method, community-based approach was employed, integrating literature review, field observations, and community …

Evaluating Stormwater & Carbon Benefits Of Urban Street Trees, Anthony J. Rodriguez Diaz

Theses

Urban areas experience a multitude of environmental challenges, including flooding and air pollution. In response to these pressures, urban forests have emerged as an essential nature-based strategy to enhance resilience and reduce climate-related risks. The implementation and expansion of urban street trees further contribute to this effort by mitigating stormwater runoff and reducing atmospheric carbon emissions.

Fortunately, advances in environmental modeling have made it increasingly possible to quantify these ecosystem services using specialized software. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service's i-Tree suite exemplifies this progress. The software provides a comprehensive set of tools designed to quantify environmental …

Evaluation And Calibration Of Coupled Low-Cost Particulate Matter Sensors, Tyler Cargill

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Low-cost sensors (LCS), if used appropriately, are useful instruments to elucidate human exposure to particles suspended in the air (i.e. particulate matter, PM). Characterizing this exposure is crucial, as exposure to PM2.5 (i.e. particles with aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 μm) negatively affects the respiratory, cardiovascular, and other organ systems and is the leading environmental burden for global mortality. Similarly, exposure to particles with aerodynamic diameters greater than 2.5 μm and less than or equal to 10 μm, here forth termed as PMCoarse, is known to cause health ailments for the upper respiratory system. This dissertation focuses on the MODULAIRTM-PM (MOD-PM), …

Quantifying Benefits Of Biochar With Variable Absorption Capacity As A Partial Cement Replacement In Concrete, Benjamin Shannon

Theses and Dissertations

Extensive research has been conducted on biochar-incorporated concrete. However, no concrete mixture design guideline is currently available for implementing biochar incorporation in practice. The objective of this study was to correlate biochar absorption capacity with the compressive strength of biochar-incorporated concrete, to quantify the benefits of biochar and develop mix design guidelines. Biochar with varying absorption capacities was incorporated into concrete at 10%, 20%, and 40%. Strength and moisture loss were recorded over the 90-day curing period of the biochar-incorporated concrete. Results revealed three main findings: (1) in 10%, 20%, and 40% biochar mixes, the normalized strengths ranged from 0.65–0.85, …

Development Of A Handy Tool For The Selection Of Urban Stormwater Best Management Practices, Aaron T. Kenny

Civil & Environmental Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The City of Norfolk, Virginia faces substantial stormwater management challenges due to shallow groundwater, tidal influence, dense urban development, and limited right-of-way. These constraints limit the applicability of many Best Management Practices (BMPs) and require the early identification of feasible practices before detailed hydrologic modeling. This thesis introduces a decision-support tool that quickly and systematically identifies and prioritizes BMPs that are both feasible and well-suited to Norfolk’s Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) program, streamlining early-stage selection and saving time and resources.

The tool implements a two-stage methodology. First, feasibility gates are applied using catalog attributes derived from the Virginia …

Marine Environmental Protection : An Investigation Into Existing Global Laws Addressing Marine Plastic Pollution, Maryland De Castro

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Decarbonization And Climate Justice : Challenges And The Effect On Shipowners, Sofiana Kontouri

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Problem Of Noise Pollution In Chinese Waters : Can The Current National Legal Framework Tackle The Problem?, Zhou Wang

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Floodnet Community Engagement Guide, Véronëque Ignace, Sofia Mariyamis, Kendra Krueger, Polly Pierone, Hayley Elszasz, Hannah Eisler Burnett

The Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay, SRIJB

"At the Intersection of Science, Policy, and Community: The FloodNet NYC Community Engagement Strategy” is a public-facing community engagement guide that documents the strategies, tools, and lessons developed through FloodNet NYC, a cross-sector partnership among researchers at NYU and CUNY and New York City agencies. Designed as a practical resource, this guide shares our approach to community engagement and dissemination so that researchers, practitioners, community organizations, and public agencies can adapt these methods to their own urban climate science projects and other community-centered efforts that address climate challenges.

Grounded in community-based participatory research (CBPR) principles, the guide presents community engagement …

A Hieratical Control Framework For Assessing Ev’S Impact On Residential Energy Flexibility, Yuewei Li

Dissertations - ALL

With the development of the power grid, the world's industries and economies have experienced a significant boost over the past centuries. However, as the demand for electricity from the grid continues to grow, utility markets face increasingly challenging tasks in balancing supply and demand. Additionally, integrating renewable energy sources such as solar, hydroelectric, and wind power into the grid adds further complexities to maintaining grid stability. In the United States, buildings account for about 76% of electricity consumption and 40% of greenhouse gas emissions, making them a major contributor to peak demand, which is nearly 80%. Therefore, buildings play a …

Impact Of Humidity From Shrink (Wrap) Tunnels On Refrigeration Systems: Comparing Economic And Environmental Impact Of Natural Gas And Electric, Segun Samuel Oladipo

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This thesis examines the economic and environmental effects of electric and steam shrink-wrapping tunnels used in beef packaging processes, paying particular attention to the indirect refrigeration loads caused by the heat and humidity that each system releases. Traditional sustainability evaluations frequently ignore these indirect impacts, which are especially important in meat processing facilities where 45–55% of electricity use is attributed to refrigeration. Life cycle assessment (LCA), field measurements, and thermodynamic modeling are all used in this work to offer a thorough analysis of both tunnel types.

The case study facility in Nebraska operates both steam and electric shrink tunnels to …

Coal Mining Reclamation: Lessons Learned From Tropical And Subtropical Countries, Priyaji Agung Pambudi, Suyud Warno Utomo, Roni Setyo Handoko

Journal of Environmental Science and Sustainable Development

This study addresses the persistent environmental challenges associated with coal mining in tropical and subtropical regions, where complex microclimates and ecological variability hinder effective reclamation. Despite the increasing global coal demand, comparative cross-country insights remain limited. This research fills the gap by evaluating the best practices. This study employs a qualitative methodology with a comparative case study design, uses systematic literature review to evaluate ecology based reclamation policies and implementation practices. Data were sourced from peer-reviewed journals from Scopus and the Web of Science database and institutional reports, and analyzed using McHarg’s landscape ecology theory to evaluate reclamation policies, ecological …

Prospects Of Clean Cooking Energy In Africa - Transition Pathways And Implications, Joseph H. Kihedu Dr.

Tanzania Journal of Engineering and Technology (TJET)

Despite abundant renewable energy resources, African countries still suffer from energy poverty, particularly in cooking. Up to 2022, about 74% of the African population had no access to clean cooking energy. With focus to Sub-Saharan African population, 90% has no access to clean cooking energy which decrease by 7% when kerosene is included. Traditional cooking, which involves the use of charcoal and firewood, is associated with health problems, environmental degradation, socioeconomic issues, and gender inequality. Transitioning to clean cooking energy not only promises significant health benefits but also offers opportunities for sustainable economic development and environmental preservation. In this study, …