People

PhD Students

Mohammad Akbarnezhad

Mohammad is a PhD student in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rice University. He received his Bachelor and Master degree in Civil Engineering at Sharif University of Technology.

His research will focus on the development of vulnerability functions for bridges and regional prediction of bridge performance. This work will include detailed modeling and nonlinear analysis of complex highway bridges. Mohammad has interest in Seismic Risk Assessment, Probabilistic Hazard Analysis, Finite Element Analysis, and application of shape memory alloys in structural rehabilitation and retrofitting.

Research: Application of Neural Networks in Development of Bridge Fragility Functions

ma85@rice.edu

Qiu Zheng

Qiu Zheng is a Ph.D. student in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Tongji University in 2016.

His research interests include finite element analysis, modeling of bridge systems, seismic probabilistic assessment, and structural damage identification with machine learning methods.

Research: Next Generation Bridge Fragility Functions for California Bridges

qiu_zheng@gatech.edu

Yijian (Albert) Zhang

Albert is a PhD student in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Institute of technology. He received both of his B.S. (2012) and M.S. (2014) in Civil Engineering from University of California at Berkeley. After he received his degrees, he worked in Thornton Tomasetti as a structural engineer for designing high-rise buildings in China.

His research is to develop a new framework that uses the data collected from the robotic exploration of infrastructure, particularly considering the effect of localized deterioration on structural stability of members, to assess the condition of bridges and prioritize these structures for repair.

Albert has research interests in nonlinear analysis of structures, seismic risk assessment, modeling deterioration of RC structures due to chloride-induced corrosion, and development of constitutive material model for finite element analysis.

Research: Bridge Resilience Assessment with INSPIRE Data

zyj.albert@gatech.edu or zyj.albert@hotmail.com

Civil Engineering PhD student Pablo Vega

Pablo is a PhD candidate in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Pablo received his Bachelors and Masters of Science in Civil Engineering at The University of Puerto Rico–Mayaguez.

Pablo’s PhD research investigates new ways to retrofit old concrete buildings and applications of shape memory alloys in structural engineering. He also has a keen interest in automation of design/analysis processes for civil engineering projects. While finishing his PhD, Pablo works as a structural analyst at Arup’s Advanced Technology + Research group in New York. In his spare time, Pablo enjoys sports and athletic activities, playing guitar, and exploring the wide variety of cuisines New York City has to offer.

Research: Cost-Benefit Analyses for Seismic Retrofit of Nonductile Concrete Buildings

pablo.vega.behar@gmail.com

Post-Doctoral Scholar

Yazhou (Tim) Xie, Ph.D.

Tim received his Ph.D. (2017) in Civil Engineering from UCLA, and his M.S. in Bridge Engineering (2011) and B.S. in Civil Engineering (2008), both from Tongji University, China.

His primary research interests include seismic assessment and protection of highway bridges using high-fidelity modeling approaches, advanced statistical tools, and innovative devices. He is the recipient of UCLA Dissertation Year Fellowship and the UCLA Martin Rubin Scholarship for academic excellence. He has served as the president and vice president of the EERI student chapter at UCLA.

Research: Next Generation Fragility Functions for California Bridges

yxie@rice.edu

Academic Visitor

Han Li

Han Li is a PhD student in Tongji University and currently an academic visitor of Reginald DesRoches’s research group in the George R. Brown School of Engineering at Rice University. She received her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Civil Engineering from Tongji University.

Her research interests include development of novel isolation devices, seismic risk assessment of isolated bridges, finite element analysis, and transportation network resilience.

Research: High-Performance Isolation Rubber Bearings for the Seismic Mitigation of Bridges

hl73@rice.edu