In the News

Science Daily covered the continued collaboration between Professor Suzanne Scarlata and Associate Professor Nima Rahbar to develop their Enzymatic Construction Material – a sustainable, low-cost replacement for concrete that can also heal itself. Scarlata and Rahbar recently received a nearly $700,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to refine the material, explore its ability to repair cracks in glass, and create educational programs for girls in Worcester and Nigeria.

BBC Earth featured the self-healing concrete developed by Associate Professor Nima Rahbar and Professor Suzanne Scarlata in an episode about climate-friendly ways to heat residential homes. The self-healing concrete uses an enzyme found in red blood cells to heal itself, thereby filling cracks before they cause larger structural issues.

Industry Dive spoke with Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering Associate Professor Nima Rahbar and Chemistry & Biochemistry Professor Suzanne Scarlata about their work to create an enzymatic construction material, which could be a sustainable alternative to concrete. The material removes carbon dioxide from the air during its formation and self-healing process.

Anthropocene Magazine reported on the collaboration between Civil, Environmental, & Architectural Engineering Associate Professor Nima Rahbar and Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry Suzanne Scarlata to produce a negative-emission construction material that absorbs CO2 and self-heals.

WPI civil engineering professor Nima Rahbar was interviewed for the CBS Boston segment on how excessive rainfall is creating more pothole problems.

The reporter writes “it looks a little like magic” when referring to Professor Nima Rahbar’s research  into self-healing concrete. However the Fast Company article takes a much deeper look at the problem of degrading concrete and the solution the WPI team is developing.

(6:54:52 mark) highlights civil and environmental engineering associate professor Nima Rahbar’s research into a new self-healing concrete.

New England Cable News (NECN), (7:25:21 mark), featured civil and environmental engineering associate professor Nima Rahbar’s research into a new self-healing concrete.

Space Weekly, Wonderful Engineering,  Phys.org, and Mashable (on Twitter) reported on WPI researchers using an enzyme found in red blood cells to create self-healing concrete that is four times more durable than traditional concrete, extending the life of concrete-based structures and eliminating the need for expensive repairs or replacements.

Civil and environmental engineering associate professor Nima Rahbar’s research into a new self-healing concrete was featured in Fast Company.

Spectrum News 1 reported on Nima Rahbar, associate professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and lead author of the paper published in Applied Materials Today, was mentioned in the article.

The Worcester Business Journal reported on Nima Rahbar, associate professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and lead author of the paper published in Applied Materials Today, was noted in the article.

The Worcester Business Journal is the latest to report on research by Kristen Billiar, professor and head of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, who hopes to close an important gap in the understanding of physical factors that help regulate the life and death of cells in our bodies, and the important roles they play in the development of a wide range of disorders. Co-principle investigators include Nima Rahbar, associate professor of civil & environmental engineering, and Qi Wen, associate professor of physics.