News – Smart Structures Technology Laboratory

News

September 2020

Amirali Najafi, a PhD student specializing in advanced experimental testing methods under the supervision of Dr. Bill Spencer, has won the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded Multi-Hazard Engineering Collaboratory for Hybrid Simulation (MECHS) three-minute thesis competition.\n\nMECHS is a research network focused on hybrid simulation projects. The objective of the organization is to facilitate collaboration and initiate new research for tackling emerging scientific challenges. Amirali has previously participated in MECHS events and a benchmark research problem. “My research is focused on the development of a multi-axial real-time hybrid simulation methodology, for nonlinear dynamic assessment of structural performance under natural hazard excitation. In this method, a complete structure is broken into numerical and physical components and tested simultaneously. Load and Boundary Condition Boxes (LBCBs) and sensors are used for the communication of signals between the numerical and physical models. This method overcomes some of the limitations of traditional testing methods such as quasi-static cyclic and shake table tests, and results in cost and space savings.” \n\nAmirali has completed most of his research work and is expected to defend his PhD dissertation soon. You can check out the video of Amirali’s three minute thesis here.

June 2020

Because of the worldwide challenges brought on by the global COVID-19 crisis, the application deadline for the Liu Huixian Earthquake Engineering Scholarship Awards in 2020 is postponed to September 30th, 2020. (Announcement)

January 2019

The Huixian Earthquake Engineering Foundation (China) and the US-China Earthquake Engineering Foundation (USA) are pleased to announce that about ten (10) LIU Huixian Earthquake Engineering Scholarship Awards are available in 2019. Applicants must currently be enrolled as a full-time master’s degree or doctoral degree student in earthquake engineering or a closely related field. Applicants must be at a university or research institute in China, USA, Singapore, or a member center of the Asian-Pacific Network of Centers for Earthquake Engineering Research (ANCER). (Application)(Announcement) (Description)

June 2018

The Huixian Earthquake Engineering Foundation (China) and the US-China Earthquake Engineering Foundation (USA) are pleased to announce that about ten (10) Liu Huixian Earthquake Engineering Scholarship Awards will be available in 2018. Applicants must currently be enrolled as a full-time masters degree or doctoral degree student in earthquake engineering or a closely related field. Applicants must be at a university or research institute in China, the USA, Singapore, ora member center of the Asian-Pacific Network of Centers for Earthquake Engineering Research (ANCER). (Application)(Announcement) (Description)

February 2018

Dr. Billie F. Spencer will receive the 2018 Newmark Medal from the American Society of Civil Engineers for pioneering work, innovations, and leadership in the theory and application of advanced technologies to fundamental problems in structural engineering and mechanics, as well as for his unwavering commitment to education/mentoring of students and professional service.

December 2017

Congratulations to Vedhus Hoskere for receiving the Liu Huixian Earthquake Engineering Scholarship 2017! In honor of the late Professor Liu Huixian, the founder of Earthquake Engineering in China, the Huixian Earthquake Engineering Foundation (China) and the US-China Earthquake Engineering Foundation (USA) have jointly established the Liu Huixian Earthquake Engineering Scholarship Award, to encourage graduate students in earthquake engineering to pursue research and/or academic careers. The scholarship will grant Vedhus a cash award of $1,500 or a sponsored trip to institutes in China. The award announcement can be found here

December 2017

Announcement of the Awardees of “The 2017 Liu Huixian Earthquake Engineering Scholarship Award”. The 2017 Liu Huixian Earthquake Engineering Scholarship Award” has recently come to a successful conclusion. The award announcement can be found here here

October, 2017

SSTL member Vedhus Hoskere and EERI UIUC President Michael Neal recently visited Mexico City to help wtih post earthquake inspections and collect data for research. Dr. Spencer and the two students were featured in the News Gazette (Article). The students also spoke about their trip on local news, WCIA Channel 3 (Article).

July 2017

Congratulations to Vedhus Hoskere for recieving the best paper award in the Structural Health Monitoring and Control competiton at the ASCE EMI conference in San Diego! The finals of the student competitions were held at the EMI 2017 Conference, June 4-7, San Diego, CA and the results announced at the awards banquet. Vedhus received a cash prize of $500 for his paper titled Modal Analysis of Strucures using Multiple Video Segments from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. (ASCE EMI Student Awards page)

April, 2017

Congratulations to SSTL Member Jongwoong Park for accepting the position of Assistant Professor at Chung-Ang University, South Korea!

March 2017

The Huixian Earthquake Engineering Foundation (China) and the US-China Earthquake Engineering Foundation (USA) are pleased to announce that about ten (10) Liu Huixian Earthquake Engineering Scholarship Awards will be available in 2017. Applicants must currently be enrolled as a full-time masters degree or doctoral degree student in earthquake engineering or a closely related field. Applicants must be at a university or research institute in China, the USA, Singapore, ora member center of the Asian-Pacific Network of Centers for Earthquake Engineering Research (ANCER). (Application)(Announcement) (Description)

December 2016

Congratulations to Yasutaka Narazaki for receiving the Liu Huixian Earthquake Engineering Scholarship 2016! In honor of the late Professor Liu Huixian, the founder of Earthquake Engineering in China, the Huixian Earthquake Engineering Foundation (China) and the US-China Earthquake Engineering Foundation (USA) have jointly established the Liu Huixian Earthquake Engineering Scholarship Award, to encourage graduate students in earthquake engineering to pursue research and/or academic careers. The scholarship granted Yasutaka a cash award of $1,500

July, 2016

Dr. Spencer features in the 2016 List of Most Cited Researchers in Materials Science and Engineering by Elsevier Scopus Data. (Article)

July, 2016

Congratulations to Hyungchul Yoon for accepting the position of Assistant Professor at Michigan Technological University!

June, 2016

SSTL Member Hyungchul Yoon featured in Engineering at Illinois Newsletter. (Article)

May, 2016

Dr. Spencer inducted as the 96th Honorary Member of the Alpha Chapter of Chi Epsilon – the first of whom was Ira O. Baker. This photo is of Dr. Spencer with the other initiates for the spring of 2016.

June, 2015

Dr. Billie F. Spencer from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (USA) was conferred as a Distinguished Professor at Yokohama National University. The photo was taken after the conferment ceremony on June 8, 2015. Left: Professor Yuichi Hasebe, President of Yokohama National University and Director of Institute of Advanced Sciences; Right: Distinguished YNU Professor Billie F. Spencer.

June, 2015

Dr. Spencer receives ASCE’s George W. Housner Structural Control and Monitoring Medal. This photo was taken at the awards banquet held at the ASCE EMI conference, held at Stanford University on June 18th. On the left is the President of ASCE (Robert D. Stevens), and on the right is the ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute (EMI) President (Roberto Ballarini).

May, 2015

Congratulations to Robin Kim and Fernando Moreu for graduating with their PhD!

April, 2015

Congratulations to Fernando Moreu for accepting the position of Assistant Professor at the University of New Mexico and to Nick Wierschem for accepting the position of Assistant Professor at the University of Tennessee!

April, 2015

Congratulations to Martha Cuenca for winning the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship! (Link)

April, 2015

AESE/ANCRiSST 2015 Call for Abstracts is open until April 15, 2015. For more information, please visit the event webpage: http://sstl.cee.illinois.edu/aeseancrisst15

March, 2015

Congratulations to Fernando Moreu and Robin Kim who have recently passed their PhD Final Exams!

January, 2015

Congratulations to Jennifer Rice, SSTL PhD graduate and current Assistant Professor at the University of Florida, who received the NSF career award! (Link)

May, 2014

Congratulations to Nick Wierschem and Takehiko Asai for graduating with their PhD!

June, 2013

We wish the best of luck to SSTL members as they move on to the next stage of their career as young faculty members: Chia-Ming Chang (Guangzhou University), Ryan Giles (SUNY Stony Brook), Hongki Jo (University of Arizona), Jian Li (University of Kansas), and Lauren Linderman (University of Minnesota).

March, 2013

Nonlinear energy sink project featured in aerospace engineering department news. (Link)

October, 2011

Structure Magazine – “Wireless Monitoring of Civil Infrastructure Comes of Age” (pdf)

March, 2011

New York Times – “Keeping Tabs on the Infrastructure, Wirelessly” by Anne Eisenberg

March, 2011

BBC World Service – Interview with Dr. Spencer on the technology program “Click”. Listen Here!