Dr Rod Thornton is a Senior Lecturer in Russian Defence and Security Studies at King’s College London, affiliated with the Defence Studies Department and School of Security Studies. He specializes in the Russian military's kinetic and sub-threshold warfare, with a focus on cyber capabilities, space warfare, and UK homeland resilience. His research includes recent British Academy-funded work on UK civil defense capacity during the pandemic, advocating for dedicated civil defense organizations. He has published extensively on Russian military tactics in Ukraine, AI-cyber integration, and space-based deterrence. Russian military cyber operations Space warfare dynamics UK resilience capacity gaps Scientific awards include a British Academy grant (2020). His students focus on asymmetric warfare, AI, cyber, and regional security issues. He teaches at the UK Defence Academy and has collaborated with institutions in Finland, South Korea, and the Freeman Air and Space Institute.
Steven I-Jy Chien serves as Professor and Director of the Transportation Program within the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). His career spans academia, government, and industry with significant contributions to transportation engineering research and practice. His educational credentials include: Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from University of Maryland-College Park (1995) M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from University of Maryland-College Park (1991) B.S. in Civil Engineering from Tamkang University (1983) Professor Chien's research focuses on transportation system resilience, sustainable transit operations, and advanced traffic modeling. His work addresses critical challenges in urban rail networks, demand-responsive transit services, and energy-efficient transportation systems. He employs sophisticated computational methods including genetic algorithms, machine learning, and Bayesian approaches to solve complex transportation problems involving network vulnerability, passenger behavior, and infrastructure optimization under uncertainty. Analysis of his recent publications reveals strong emphasis on transportation resilience against cascading failures, sustainable operations for electric transit systems, and pandemic-responsive aviation scheduling. His research spans diverse geographic contexts including major Chinese metropolitan areas and U.S. transportation networks, demonstrating global applicability of his methodologies. His professional recognition includes: 2024 Keynote Speaker at Union-Tech Lecture, National Taiwan Ocean University 2022 Keynote Speaker at International Conference of Chinese Institute of Transportation 2022 Best Poster Award from New Jersey Department of Transportation Professor Chien has secured research funding from federal agencies including the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) where he contributed to CORSIM traffic simulation software development. His industry experience with China Engineering Consultants Inc. and Information Dynamic Inc. informs his practical approach to transportation challenges. As Transportation Program Director, he oversees curriculum development and industry partnerships that prepare students for transportation sector careers. He maintains active collaboration with transportation agencies globally, particularly through his leadership in the Transportation Program at NJIT which serves as a hub for innovation in urban mobility solutions.
Professor Haijiang Li is a Chair in BIM for Smart Engineering at Cardiff University's School of Engineering. His roles include leading the Computational Mechanics and Engineering AI Research Group, directing the BIM for Smart Engineering Centre, and overseeing the BIM MSc programme. He holds editorial roles for journals like Construction Innovation and Automation in Construction , and chairs the European Group of Intelligent Computing in Engineering (EG-ICE). Research focuses on smart computational engineering platforms integrating BIM, AI, and big data for sustainable infrastructure. Key areas include digital twins, disaster management, and resilient urban systems. He has secured £40M in research funding, including £9M as PI, and led over 70 research staff and students. Prof. Li is a Standards Committee Technical Executive at buildingSMART, driving international BIM standards. His work includes co-authoring a book on BIM standards across China, the US, and the UK. Awards include Fellowships from the British Computer Society (FBCS) and the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). His research outputs span over 250 publications, covering topics like AI-driven bridge maintenance, ontology-based decision-making, and energy-efficient urban systems. Collaborations with industry and global partners emphasize practical applications of BIM and smart technologies.
Prof. Eleni Chatzi is a Full Professor and Chair of Structural Mechanics at ETH Zurich's Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering. She holds a PhD from Columbia University (2010) and has held roles from Assistant to Full Professor at ETH since 2010. Her research focuses on intelligent structural monitoring and data-driven asset management, emphasizing nonlinear dynamics and sensor integration. Affiliations : Institute of Structural Engineering, European Academy of Wind Energy (EAWE President), Swiss Community for Computational Methods (SWICCOMAS Chair) Research interests include Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), system identification, and advanced simulation tools. She pioneered work on data-driven diagnostics and self-aware infrastructure, supported by grants like the ERC Starting Grant (2015). Awards include the 2020 Walter L. Huber Prize and 2024 SHM Person of the Year Award. Her work spans wind energy infrastructure, metamaterials for vibration control, and AI-driven structural analytics. Over 600 publications and 200k+ citations highlight her impact. She teaches computational science and structural dynamics in ETH's programs and collaborates globally on sustainable infrastructure projects.
Paolo Gardoni is the Alfredo H. Ang Family Professor and an Excellence Faculty Scholar in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, with additional professorial appointments in Industrial & Enterprise Systems Engineering and Biomedical & Translational Sciences. He also serves as Director of the MAE Center and Editor-in-Chief of Reliability Engineering & System Safety. Education Ph.D. in Civil Engineering, University of California, Berkeley (2002) M.A. in Statistics, University of California, Berkeley (2001) M.Eng. in Structural Engineering, University of Tokyo (1997) Laurea (BS+MS equivalent) in Structural Engineering, Politecnico di Milano (1997) Research Interests Gardoni’s scholarship integrates probabilistic methods with large-scale infrastructure systems to advance reliability, risk, and life-cycle analysis. His work quantifies the performance of deteriorating systems under natural and anthropogenic hazards, models societal impacts of disasters, and develops decision frameworks for sustainable and resilient infrastructure. He also examines ethical, social, and legal dimensions of risk, and investigates optimal strategies for hazard mitigation, disaster recovery, and climate adaptation. Across more than 250 refereed journal papers, he has advanced sub-fields ranging from probabilistic mechanics and earthquake engineering to catastrophe bond pricing and engineering ethics, leveraging tools such as stochastic differential equations, Bayesian networks, and physics-informed machine learning. Awards & Honors Alfredo Ang Award on Risk Analysis and Management of Civil Infrastructure (ASCE, 2021) Best Paper Awards in ASCE Journal of Sustainable Water in the Built Environment (2019) and Geotechnical Research (2018 Telford Premium Prize) Fellowships and named professorships: Alfredo H. Ang Family Professor, Excellence Faculty Scholar, and courtesy or honorary professorships at Tsinghua, IIT Guwahati, Tongji, Jianghan, and Loughborough universities. Research Leadership & Funding Gardoni has secured over $58 million in research funding from NSF, DHS, NIST, USAID, Qatar National Research Fund, and other agencies. He directs the MAE Center—formerly an NSF Engineering Research Center—focused on multi-hazard engineering approaches, and is Editor-in-Chief of Reliability Engineering & System Safety (Elsevier, IF 9.4). He founded and formerly led the journal Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure (Taylor & Francis) and serves on editorial boards of nine additional journals. Advising & Mentorship He has graduated 27 PhD and 35 Master’s students, many of whom now hold faculty positions worldwide. His group maintains an active pipeline of doctoral and post-doctoral researchers working on resilience analytics, infrastructure monitoring, and risk-informed decision-making. Laboratories & Collaborations He leads the MAE Center and is affiliated with the Critical Infrastructure Resilience Institute (CIRI) and the Biomedical and Translational Sciences group. International collaborations span the UK (Loughborough), India (IIT Guwahati), and China (Tsinghua, Tongji, Jianghan), fostering cross-disciplinary research in reliability and resilience engineering.
Mazdak Nik-Bakht is an Associate Professor at Concordia University's School of Building, Civil, and Environmental Engineering. His work bridges construction engineering with digital innovation, focusing on smart infrastructure and sustainable development. PhD, Construction Engineering & Mgmt., University of Toronto PhD, Structural Engineering, Iran University of Science & Technology MASc & BASc, Structural and Civil Engineering, Iran University of Science & Technology His research integrates Artificial Intelligence and Social Network Analysis into construction management systems. Key areas include: Smart infrastructure and urban computing Deconstruction and circular economy principles Building Information Modeling (BIM) and digital twinning Process mining in Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry Decision models in construction project management Semantic computing and computational linguistics applications Recent publications show a focus on BIM analytics , urban resilience , and social media's role in infrastructure planning . Papers often combine AI and network theory to solve complex construction challenges. 2015 Outstanding paper award - Built Environment Project and Asset Management journal He teaches courses on: Big Data Analytics for Smart City Infrastructure Building Information Modeling (BIM) for Construction Building Economics Project Cost Estimating
Professor Nicole Metje is a Professor of Infrastructure Monitoring at the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Birmingham, and Director of the National Buried Infrastructure Facility. She also serves as Co-director of the Institute of Quantum Technology. Her research focuses on quantum sensing, geotechnical engineering, and infrastructure monitoring, with a particular emphasis on buried infrastructure detection and sustainable urban development. Education: PhD in Civil Engineering (University of Birmingham, 2001); Dipl.-Ing. in Civil Engineering (Hannover University, Germany, 1998). Key roles and affiliations include membership in EPSRC Infrastructure Strategic Advisory Team, Chartered Institution of Civil Engineering Surveyors, and international advisory boards for Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She has authored/co-authored over 50 journal papers and a textbook on tunnel construction. Research areas include quantum sensor applications for buried asset detection, geophysical soil properties, and sensor development for infrastructure monitoring. She leads projects such as UKCRIC National Buried Infrastructure Facility and Quantum Technology Hub in Sensors and Metrology. Awards and fellowships include FICE, FCInstCES, CEng, FHEA, and multiple committee memberships in national/international bodies. Teaching includes MSc courses on underground construction and geotechnical engineering. She supervises doctoral research on quantum sensors, soil-structure interactions, and sustainable infrastructure.
Professor Shaomin Wu is a faculty member at the University of Kent's Kent Business School, where he holds the academic rank of Professor of Business/Applied Statistics. He earned an MSc and PhD in applied statistics and has extensive industry experience, including a five-and-a-half-year stint at a global manufacturer in Shanghai before moving to the UK in 2001. He has held roles as a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer before joining Cranfield University and later the University of Kent. His research focuses on recurrent event data analysis, machine learning, and reliability mathematics, with funding from the EPSRC and ESRC. His research projects include managing risk in warranty servicing policies, smart data analytics for local government, and sustainable supply chain demand forecasting. He teaches modules such as risk analysis, reliability engineering, and machine learning. Currently supervising PhD students in time series forecasting, explainable AI, and recurrent event data analysis, he also serves as a co-chair of international conferences, editorial board member, and external examiner for doctoral degrees. Notably, he ranks among the top 2% of global scientists by Stanford University. His work integrates machine learning with business analytics, resilience engineering, and environmental sustainability. Key contributions include IoT-driven resilience methodologies for smart grids and unmanned systems, as well as frameworks for corporate carbon disclosure and maintenance optimization under uncertainty.
Amin Hammad is a Professor at the Concordia Institute for Information Systems Engineering, with an additional appointment as Affiliate Professor in Building, Civil, and Environmental Engineering at Concordia University. His research focuses on advancing construction technology through digital transformation, automation, and AI integration. He leads work in BIM applications, 4D simulation, robotic systems, and sustainable infrastructure management. His interdisciplinary approach bridges civil engineering with computer science and data analytics. Key research areas include: Automation and robotics in construction (Construction 4.0) BIM and digital twin lifecycle management AI-driven defect detection and inspection systems Occupational safety through exoskeleton performance evaluation Multi-purpose utility tunnel optimization Energy-efficient building systems Recent work emphasizes applying machine learning to construction equipment activity recognition, UAV path optimization for infrastructure inspection, and ontology development for integrated systems. His research addresses industry challenges in productivity, safety, and sustainability through data-driven solutions.
Eric Green is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Kentucky , affiliated with the Kentucky Transportation Center . He holds a Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. in Civil Engineering from the same institution. Ph.D., Department of Civil Engineering, University of Kentucky M.S., Department of Civil Engineering, University of Kentucky B.S., Department of Civil Engineering, University of Kentucky His research focuses on highway safety , spatial analysis (GIS) , crash modeling , and software development for traffic safety . Recent work includes text mining for secondary crash detection and GPS-based horizontal curve analysis. Publications highlight trends in crash analysis , Highway Safety Manual methodologies , and data integration for asset management . Key subfields include GIS applications, safety modeling, and automated regression techniques.
Clémence Poirier is a Senior Researcher in the Cyberdefense Project within the Risk and Resilience Team at the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zurich. She previously served as a Research Fellow at the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) in Vienna and as a Researcher for Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia. She also holds the position of Space Generation Advocacy and Policy Platform's Lead on Responsible Space Behavior at the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC). Her educational background includes a Master's degree in International Relations, International Security and Defense and a Bachelor's degree in Foreign Applied Languages (English, Russian, Spanish), both from University Jean Moulin Lyon III, France. Dr. Poirier is multilingual, which supports her international research collaborations. Dr. Poirier's research focuses on the critical intersection of space operations and cybersecurity, with particular emphasis on geopolitical implications of cyber conflict in outer space. Her work examines how terrestrial conflicts like the Ukraine war impact space security architecture and explores policy frameworks for protecting space infrastructure from cyber threats. She has conducted extensive research on space cybersecurity policy across multiple jurisdictions including Australia, Europe, and the United States. Analysis of her publication record reveals a clear progression from foundational space policy research toward increasingly specialized work on space cybersecurity. Her recent publications demonstrate growing attention to practical policy implementation challenges, with several papers addressing specific national and regional approaches to space cybersecurity governance. There's also a notable trend toward multidisciplinary collaboration, particularly with technical experts in space systems engineering. Dr. Poirier has established significant research partnerships with major space institutions including the European Space Agency, with whom she collaborated on climate policy research examining the integration of space-based data in European environmental policies. Her work with SmartSat CRC in Australia demonstrates international research coordination on space infrastructure security. She leads research initiatives focused on responsible space behavior and has contributed to policy development through her work with the European Economic and Social Committee. Her current Cyberdefense Project at ETH Zurich's CSS represents the culmination of her expertise in space security policy development.
Dr. Kalyan R. Piratla is a Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at Clemson University's College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences. His research focuses on underground construction, infrastructure resilience, and sustainable water systems. He leads the Center for Research in Underground Infrastructure Systems Engineering (CRUISE), which develops decision-making models to enhance the sustainability and resilience of underground infrastructure systems. Ph.D. in Construction Management, Arizona State University (2012) Masters in Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras (2008) Bachelors in Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras (2007) Dr. Piratla's research integrates interdisciplinary approaches across water supply systems , power systems engineering , wireless sensing technologies , and graph theory . His work emphasizes: Seismic resilience metrics for pipeline systems Decentralized water reuse planning Vibration-based infrastructure monitoring Interdependencies among lifeline infrastructures Transportation project delivery optimization Research trends include: Application of machine learning to pipeline leakage detection Advanced seismic vulnerability assessment Life cycle cost analysis of water reuse systems Integration of geotechnical and structural monitoring Scientific Awards S.E. Liles, Jr. Distinguished Professor Dr. Piratla actively supervises graduate research and offers assistantships for PhD students. His work benefits water utilities, construction contractors, and emergency response agencies through innovative monitoring techniques and resilience enhancement frameworks . His CRUISE research group explores: Interdependencies among critical infrastructure systems Transportation project delivery efficiency Collaborations spanning power systems and wireless sensing
Imad L. Al-Qadi is the Grainger Distinguished Chair in Engineering and Director of the Illinois Center for Transportation (ICT) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). He holds a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Penn State and has held faculty positions at Virginia Tech and Penn State. His research focuses on sustainable transportation infrastructure, pavement mechanics, and advanced materials. Al-Qadi leads initiatives like the Illinois Autonomous and Connected Track (I-ACT), a high-speed test facility for autonomous vehicles and energy harvesting systems. Key roles include: Director of ICT, advancing multimodal transportation infrastructure Pioneer of the Smart Road and full-scale pavement testing Founder of the Academy of Pavement Science and Engineering Research interests span: Highway/airfield sustainability Tire-pavement interaction Energy harvesting Electric vehicles' infrastructure impact Leadership roles include past presidency of ASCE's Transportation and Development Institute and editorship of the International Journal of Pavement Engineering. He has authored over 1,000 publications, including 390 refereed papers, and secured over 180 research grants from federal agencies and industry. Awards include NSF Young Investigator Award (1994), TRB Crum Award (2023), and 2024 Executive Leadership Fellow. His work is internationally recognized, with honorary professorships at institutions in China, Sweden, and the UK.
Craig A. Bond is a Professor at the RAND School of Public Policy, a Senior Economist at RAND Corporation, and Editor-in-Chief of the RAND Journal of Economics. His work bridges military resource allocation and environmental economics through advanced econometric modeling. Current Roles: Research QA Manager (RAND Arroyo Center), Senior Economist Methodological Expertise: Stochastic dynamic programming, discrete choice modeling, non-market valuation Key Research Themes: Military readiness, coastal resilience, green infrastructure, post-disaster recovery Research Interests: Craig Bond specializes in natural resource economics , environmental economics , and applied welfare economics , with recent work focusing on: Risk modeling for defense acquisitions and personnel strategy Resilience dividend valuation frameworks Green infrastructure cost-benefit analysis Climate adaptation in coastal communities Publication Trends: His 15 most recent works (2017-2025) show interdisciplinary focus across: Military Economics: Recruiting optimization, training requirements, economic multipliers Environmental Policy: Coastal land loss, invasive species impact, water management Resilience Modeling: Disaster recovery frameworks, adaptive systems
Professor Phil Purnell is a Professor of Materials and Structures at the School of Civil Engineering, University of Leeds. His expertise spans materials science, infrastructure systems, circular economy, and interdisciplinary research. He leads projects addressing decarbonization, waste-to-resource systems, and sustainable construction materials. His roles include Deputy Head of School and advisor to UKRI, DEFRA, and the UK Government’s Circular Economy Taskforce. He holds visiting positions at the Royal College of Art and University of Cambridge. Education: PhD, BEng (Civil), and teaching qualifications (PCPCE, ACTLHE). His research focuses on circular economy applications in textiles, offshore wind, and foundational industries. Notable projects include the Textiles Circularity Centre, Yorkshire Circular Economy Living Lab, and Complex Value Optimisation for Resource Recovery (C-VORR). He advocates for systemic approaches to sustainability, integrating economic, technical, and environmental values. Research outputs emphasize decarbonization pathways, material lifecycle assessments, and robotics in infrastructure management. Collaborations with industry and policy bodies drive practical solutions for resource efficiency. His work bridges engineering, economics, and environmental science to address global challenges like waste management and climate change.
