Engineering x New York

By Grant Currin

From the Brooklyn Bridge to the system of reservoirs and aqueducts that provide a billion gallons of drinking water per day, New York City is home to some of the world’s great engineering marvels.

The city’s diversity, population density, and dynamic spirit make it an ideal place for developing new technologies. Columbia Engineering’s faculty are leading projects across the five boroughs, ranging from using drones to map tree populations in city parks to predicting how climate change will impact individual neighborhoods.

For Sharon Di, associate professor of civil engineering and engineering mechanics, and her colleagues at the Center for Smart Streetscapes (CS3), New York City is a proving ground for emerging technologies that could transform how people travel through the city.

In one project, Di and her research team are leveraging the capabilities of the NSF-supported COSMOS testbed — a network of next-generation sensors and communications infrastructure located right beside the Morningside Heights campus — to develop an instant messaging platform that keeps vulnerable pedestrians safe.

“In New York City, we can deploy some of the sensors necessary to develop these new technologies,” Di says. “That infrastructure allows us to do all kinds of research that is impossible elsewhere.”

One of the hallmarks of the research at CS3 is a commitment to working alongside the community to develop technologies that neighborhood residents want and can trust.

“Unless we work with the local community, what we are doing as researchers probably won’t end up improving things in the real world,” she says.

Last summer, Di joined a group of high school students from across the city as they spoke with residents at a local senior center about their views on mobility.

“They told us about issues we hadn’t been considering, like how litter, puddles, and electric bikes make it difficult to navigate the sidewalks,” she says. “We learned a lot about their practical challenges.”