Urban
The world is changing, and it's clear we need to help drive that change
With more than half of the world’s population now residing in urban areas and that figure expected to rise to more than 70% by mid- century, NYU Tandon is innovating ways to make the cities of the future smart and resilient.
Shaping the future of urban living
Whether it’s designing earthquake-resistant buildings, advancing autonomous vehicles to revolutionize commuting, developing cutting-edge processes to disinfect wastewater, using virtual and augmented reality to create human-friendly spaces, maximizing the efficiency and safety of the construction industry, or myriad other vital components of urban environments, NYU Tandon has the entirety of New York City as a living lab — and a staging ground for modeling solutions for the global urban communities of the future.
Engineering in the center of it all
The city is more than a microcosm of urban society’s great challenges and opportunities — it’s our home. The Tandon community’s education, work, and lives are enriched by being part of the fabric of Brooklyn. Here, entrepreneurs, artists, and engineers work side-by-side amid Brooklyn’s dynamic creative and innovation ecosystem and unparalleled collaboration and cultural opportunities at NYU and beyond. In turn, we work to engage with our neighbors and enhance the community around us, from spearheading rigorous, hands-on K-12 STEM education programs to championing noise mitigation efforts.
Luis Ceferino
Assistant Professor Luis Ceferino, jointly appointed to the Department of Civil and Urban Engineering and the Center for Urban Science and Progress, is adept at calculating the seemingly incalculable. He combines rigorous uncertainty quantification methods, machine learning, structural modeling, and optimization techniques to determine the impact of extreme events such as earthquakes and hurricanes on urban systems and devise solutions for resilience, focusing on vulnerable communities. His ultimate goals are to ensure that the power grid remains accessible after a disaster, provide more effective emergency response, and reduce risk trajectories for urban areas.
Semiha Ergan
Associate Professor of Civil and Urban Engineering Semiha Ergan’s research includes IT to support design, construction, and operations of civil infrastructure systems — studying urban challenges for AEC/FM, building informatics for efficient and healthier buildings, quantification of human experience in the built environment, and infrastructure information modeling and visualization. Her group, the Building Informatics and Visualization Lab (biLAB), focuses on understanding the operational challenges associated with construction and operation of facilities and infrastructure systems in urban settings. Ergan is also an associated faculty member at the Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP).
Research Labs & Centers
AI4CE Lab
Building Informatics and Visualization Lab (BiLab)
BUILT @ NYU
Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP)
Connected Cities for Smart Mobility toward Accessible and Resilient Transportation (C2SMART)
Disaster Risk Analysis Lab
Fire Research Group
Immersive Computing Lab
International Center for Enterprise Preparedness (INTERCEP)
Resilency Resource Center (R2C)
Sounds of New York City (SONYC)
Urban Future Lab
Urban Intelligence Lab
Urban Mobility and ITS Systems Laboratory
Visualization and Data Analytics ViDA Center
