Young-Jin Cha

Dr. Young-Jin Cha is a tenured full Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Manitoba, affiliated with the Price Faculty of Engineering. He holds a PhD from Texas A&M University and has postdoctoral experience at MIT. His research focuses on deep learning-based structural health monitoring (SHM), autonomous UAVs for infrastructure inspection, and smart transportation systems, with over 100 peer-reviewed publications and $1.2M in grants. He is a Fellow of ASCE and has received notable awards including the 2021 Merit Award and 2022 International Association of Advanced Materials Scientist Award. His work has been cited over 9,200 times globally.

Research interests include automated SHM with UAVs, nonlinear system identification, unsupervised deep learning for damage detection, and sustainable infrastructure design. He serves as an editor for journals like Structural Control & Health Monitoring and Engineering Reports. His lab, the Laboratory for Infrastructure Science and Technology (LIST), develops advanced technologies for infrastructure resilience.

Key achievements include pioneering deep learning-based SHM with UAVs, top-cited papers in civil engineering journals, and leadership in organizing international conferences. He actively seeks graduate students for research in AI-driven infrastructure solutions.