Allan Romerro (PhD, Candidate): Allan Joseph Romero is pursuing a Ph.D. degree in Structural and Earthquake Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). He received his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno, and was part of the ASCE UNR student chapter. He is currently a fellow of the prestigious Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) fellowship offered by the U.S. Department of Education. His current research focuses on experimental testing of large-scale structures using semi-proprietary Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC). He aims to reduce the cost of UHPC production on large-scale applications by incorporating locally sourced and sustainable materials.

Allen J Rivas (BS, Student): Allen J Rivas is an undergraduate student of Civil Engineering at the University of Nevada Reno (UNR). His studies focus on structural engineering, and he plans on obtaining a master’s degree in structural engineering at UNR. He works as an undergraduate research assistant and has gained skills in the preparation and pouring process of various ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) mixtures. He also assists with testing of UHPC specimens for compressive, tensile, and flexural strength. And is also a member of UNR’s EERI 2022 student chapter.

Aron McCulloch (BS, Student): Aron McCulloch is a graduating senior with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) Spring 2022. Before joining UNR and the UHPC concrete team, Aron was a C-130H Aircraft Hydraulics Systems Craftsman in the United States Air Force. Aron also has extensive knowledge in custom home building construction. He has focused his college career on structural, open-channel hydraulics, water resources, transportation, and geometric roadway design. His work as an undergrad researcher has helped develop stress vs. strain charts for multiple UHPC mix designs. He is also a part of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute team at UNR. After graduation, he plans to go into heavy civil construction, tunnel drilling, deep foundation work, or bridge construction. Aron is passionate about keeping the community safe and sustainable and believes UHPC concrete is the future in some engineering applications.

Milana Cimesa (PhD, Student): Milana Cimesa is a third-year Ph.D. candidate in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno. She is working with ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) to study its compressive and confinement behavior for bridges and buildings columns. Milana has tested over 230 UHPC cylinders and 13 UHPC columns, with several more columns next year. While educating others and expanding current knowledge through research have always been her passion, Milana has leveraged her skills to train several undergraduate and graduate students peers in mixing, casting, and testing UHPC, and currently polishing her skills further to prepare for an academic career.

Mohammed Shaker Ibrahim (MS, Student): Mohammed Ibrahim is a MS student in structural and earthquake engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). He received his BS in Civil Engineering from Ain Shams University (ASU), Cairo, Egypt. After obtaining his BS, Mohammed worked as a civil and structural engineer for ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solution in Cairo. In addition, Mohammed was granted a faculty position at ASU where he taught undergraduate courses before joining UNR. He has been participating in the EERI International Seismic Design Competition since he was at ASU where he established the EERI student chapter in Egypt. He is now leading the UNR seismic design team for the June 2022 competition. His current research focuses on robust methods for UHPC early-strength determination and quality control for ABC using the maturity method.

Munni Rani Banik (MS, Student): Munni is an MS student in Earthquake and Structural Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno. She received her BSc from Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Bangladesh. Following her graduation, she has worked as a structural engineer at a consultancy company situated there. She is highly motivated toward research in Structural Engineering and Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) fields. Her undergraduate thesis was focused on sensor optimization of a historical bridge using a novel algorithm for SHM. She was also engaged in studies with collaboration to establish an Artificial Neural Network-Genetic Algorithm hybrid and determined its feasibility in SHM. Munni is very passionate about introducing state-of-art knowledge like computer vision, deep learning, and concepts like digital twin to facilitate real-time monitoring frameworks for structural engineers. Currently, she is gaining insights into the application of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in the SHM realm to develop an autonomous dynamic and seismic monitoring system for Bridges

Noah Nieman (PhD, Student): Noah Nieman is a Ph.D. student at the University of Nevada Reno in the Structural and Earthquake Engineering program. He obtained his BS and MS degree in Civil Engineering at the Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls, where his research focused on quantifying the seismic response modification factor for shipping container buildings. Before joining UNR in Fall 2021, Noah worked as a structural engineering consultant for a year. This time in professional practice instilled an interest in the practical applications of advanced research, especially for emerging technologies and novel building techniques. Noah’s current research is investigating the effects of vertical ground motions on ABC girder-to-cap connections to ensure the safety of bridges near active faults. When he is not developing numerical models or teaching a class, Noah likes to play tennis in his spare time.

Pawan Achary (MS, Student): Pawan Acharya is a master’s student at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) in Earthquake and Structural Engineering program. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from the Institute of Engineering at Pulchowk Campus of Tribhuvan University, Nepal. He joined UNR in the spring of 2020 as a graduate research assistant. His research is focused on the application of polyurea elastomers for bridge strengthening and retrofitting. He is actively involved in the development and characterization of the polyurea material and fiber mixes for structural applications. He wishes to learn about the modern seismic engineering practices here in the U.S. and introduce them back to Nepal to improve the earthquake-resistant desing practice there. Apart from studies, he enjoys meeting new people and learning about different cultures.

Sagar Acharya (MS, Student): Sagar Acharya is a master’s student in earthquake and structural engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno. He obtained his Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering from the Tribhuvan University, Nepal.  After his graduation, he worked at the National Society for Earthquake Technology (NSET) as a civil engineer in the area of seismic assessment of the buildings and retrofit design. He joined the University of Nevada, Reno as a graduate assistant in the fall of 2021. Currently, he is doing research on poly-methyl-methacrylate polymer concrete (PMMA-PC) to investigate the potential applications in ABC and infrastructures. The objective of his study is to characterize the tensile strength with an experimental investigation carrying tensile monotonic and cyclic tests with various strain rates. He also aims to develop a finite element model of the polymer concrete linking calibration from the experimental results. Apart from the research, he is also assisting in teaching an undergraduate course mechanics of solids.

Ali Mehrsoroush (PhD, 2015):  Ali was a post-doctoral scholar at the University of Nevada, Reno. He received his BS from the Isfahan University of Technology, Iran, MS from the Sharif University of Technology, Iran, and PhD from the University of Nevada, Reno. His research interests include large-scale testing of structural systems and components, application of advanced materials and details in earthquake engineering, bridge engineering, seismic behavior of concrete structures, computational modeling of structures, and seismic behavior of composite structures. In his PhD curriculum, he developed two types of novel resilient ABC connections to be utilized in both cast-in-place and accelerated bridge construction. As a post-doc he worked on two different projects funded by Caltrans and the Nevada DOT. The scope of the Caltrans project was to expand the probabilistic damage control analysis approach (PDCA) developed for standard bridge columns to substandard columns.  The Nevada DOT project was aimed at identifying the most appropriate earthquake-resistant precast bridge pier system for implementation of ABC in Nevada. Caltrans and the Nevada DOT provided funds that were partially counted as UNR’s ABC-UTC match. Since August 2017, Dr. Mehrsoroush has been a bridge engineer at the Nevada Department of Transportation.

Alireza Mohebbi (PhD, 2017): Dr. Mohebbi joined CH2M HILL Inc. in 2017 as a bridge engineer. He obtained his MSc and PhD degrees in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). In the MSc program, he explored a new seismic protection concept for integral bridges and the outcome of his research was to develop a strategy to protect vulnerable pier columns in multi-span bridges with integral abutments during earthquakes. In the PhD program, his research focused on accelerated bridge construction and developing resilient bridge piers with pocket connections and advanced materials subjected to simulated earthquake loading on shake tables. His research provided preliminary design guidelines for the seismic design of prefabricated reinforce concrete members using advanced materials such as carbon fiber reinforce polymer (CFRP) tendons, ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC), and engineered cementitious composite (ECC). He has also earned 12 academic recognitions and scholarships during graduate studies, and was recognized as an outstanding international graduate student at UNR in 2016. He was an active member of Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) and served as the President of EERI student chapter club at UNR in 2016. His research interests include seismic response of bridges, accelerated bridge construction, and durability of self-consolidating concrete (SCC). Dr. Mohebbi is currently a research scientist at the Federal Highway Administration in McClain, Virginia.

Azin Ghaffary (PhD): Azin was a PhD student of earthquake and structural engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). She obtained her BSc in civil engineering and MSc in earthquake engineering from K.N.Toosi University of technology, Tehran, Iran. Her Master’s research focused on the application of virtual hybrid simulation technique to passive and semi-active control of building structures. Her PhD focuses on the application of hybrid simulation to nonlinear analysis and design of high-rise buildings subjected to wind loads. Additionally, she is working on providing a comprehensive summary of methods and guidelines for the repair and strengthening of bridge girder ends. She also serves as the CEE Ambassador for Nevada bound tours.

Bahareh Abdollahi (PhD, 2017 ): received her doctoral degree in in structural engineering at University of Nevada, Reno (UNR).  She completed her BSc and M.Sc. degrees in civil engineering and earthquake engineering at University of Tehran, Iran.  She performed experimental and analytical studies on confinement of circular columns using Fiber Reinforced Polymers (FRPs) and Slurry Infiltrated Fiber Reinforced Concrete (SIFCON) in her master’s degree program.  She worked in 2017 on seismic interaction of soil-abutment system in skewed bridges funded by Caltrans.  The objective of her research was to develop a model to simulate the seismic interaction between the soil and the skewed bridge abutment based on large-scale shake table studies and analytical and numerical studies.  Her research interest topics include seismic retrofit, bridge engineering and soil-structure interaction. Dr. Abdollahi completed her PhD in August 2017 and is currently working as  a bridge engineer at a firm in Denver, Colorado.

Elmira Shoushtari (PhD, 2020):  Elmira Shoushtari was a PhD student of structural engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). She received her BS from Sharif University of Technology, Iran, MS from Amirkabir University of Technology, Iran. The research focus of her Master’s degree was seismic evaluation of steel dual systems with RC shear walls under near-fault and far-field earthquakes according to FEMA-P695 instructions. In the PhD program, she worked on the seismic evaluation of a two-span steel bridge system incorporating ABC connections based on shake table testing. The objective of her research project was to validate that ABC bridges can demonstrate adequate load path, integrity, and constructability. Her research interests include accelerated bridge construction, large scale testing, and seismic behavior of bridges. She was the president of Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) student chapter at UNR. She also served as the CEE Ambassador for Nevada bound tours.

Grishma Shrestha (PhD, 2018):  Grishma was a PhD student of structural engineering at University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). She obtained her MSc degree in structural engineering from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) and worked on Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis of Reinforced Concrete Diaphragm. In the PhD program, she was working on precast design of seismic bridge decks funded by Caltrans. The objective of her research was to develop and optimize a Load & Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) ABC PC deck that can demonstrate seismic resiliency and serviceability. Caltrans is providing funds that are partially counted as UNR’s ABC-UTC match. Her academic interests include finite element analysis, seismic responses of bridges, accelerated bridge construction, and, ultimately, design of these elements.

Jared Jones (PhD) : Jared Jones was a PhD student in structural and earthquake engineering at University of Nevada, Reno. He received his BS from Oregon Institute of Technology and MS from University of Nevada, Reno. His Nevada DOT funded master’s project consisted of developing specifications and guidelines for precast concrete deck panels as a method for accelerated bridge construction (ABC). Currently, Jared is working on a Caltrans funded project to determine the system level seismic response of a 2-span bridge constructed using ABC methods. The project is specifically focused on five connections to determine their response to seismic action as well as interaction among the connections on the system level. The goal of the study is to help facilitate the adoption of ABC practices in the field as well as developing seismic design guidelines for bridges built using ABC.

José Benjumea (PhD, 2019): José received his PhD from the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). He received his BS and MSc in Civil Engineering from Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS), in Colombia. Before his PhDstudies, he worked as a structural engineer in the Jefatura de Ingenieros del Ejercito and as an Auxiliary Professor at UIS.  He was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to pursue his doctoral studies.  His PhD research consisted of experimental and analytical seismic investigations of a large-scale, two-span bridge with precast elements and six ABC connections.  The research project was funded by Caltrans.  Currently, José is an Assistant Professor in the Civil Engineering School at UIS.  He was recently appointed as chairman of IABSE task group 11 of Commission 4, which focuses on construction challenges in ABC.  His research interests include analysis, design, and testing of reinforced concrete structures, response of bridges under seismic and accidental loads, and ABC.

Mahmoud Aboukifa (PhD): Mahmoud wasa PhD student of structural engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). He received his BS from Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. After his graduation, he joined the Department of Structural Engineering in Ain Shams University as a Teaching and Research assistant, and he was granted a fellowship to pursue a MSc degree at Ain Shams University prior to his undergraduate grades and qualifications. His Research career is directed to the ABC applications. Starting from his Master’s degree, he was working on the behavior of pocket connections between bridge columns and footings and then continued his interest towards ABC in his PhD by working on one of the ABC-UTC research projects on the behavior of ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) columns reinforced with high strength steel (HSS). He received the Graduate Dean Fellowship Award for 2017 academic year during his first year at UNR.

Mehrdad Mehraein (PhD, 2016): Mehrdad received his PhD in earthquake and structural engineering from UNR in May 2016. He obtained his MSc in earthquake engineering from Sharif University of Technologyand his BSc from Amirkabir University of Technology in Iran. For his PhD he worked on column to pile-shaft ABC connections of bridges, funded by Caltrans. Upon graduation, Dr. Mehraein worked as a post-doc at UNR for a short time. He is currently a staff bridge engineer at COWI in Seattle, WA. His research interests include performance-based design of structures, precast construction, ABC, and experimental studies of structures. Caltrans provided funds that are partially counted as UNR’s ABC-UTC match. Dr. Mehraein is currently working at Cowi, North America Inc., in Seattle, Washington as a bridge engineer.

Mohammad Abbasi (PhD): Mohammad was a PhD student of earthquake and structural engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). His career in earthquake and structural engineering began in 2011 with the beginning of his master’s coursework and research in seismic risk analysis of structures at Iran University of Science and Technology’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. In his PhD curriculum, his research was particularly focused on seismic assessment of long highway bridges with different configurations. One of his first major research projects involved the development of probabilistic fragility curves for conducting quantitative and qualitative assessment of the seismic risk to Californian highway bridges. He developed time-dependent fragility functions for deteriorating reinforced concrete bridges with different levels of reinforcement corrosion in California. He also proposed and implemented some efficient retrofit measures to mitigate the seismic vulnerability of existing highway bridges. The results of his work have aided seismic retrofit prioritization, financial loss estimation, pre-earthquake planning and post-earthquake safety issues. He has published nine peer-reviewed articles in the leading journals and conference proceedings in his field, including Journal of Earthquake Spectra (Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI)), Journal of Structure and Infrastructure Engineering (Taylor & Francis), Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities (ASCE), and the Journal of the Transportation Research Board. He was awarded as outstanding international graduate student for 2016-2017, and also as outstanding graduate student for 2017-2018 academic years.

Mostafa Tazarv (PhD, 2015):  Mostafa received his B.S. from the University of Tabriz, Iran, M.S. from Sharif University of Technology, Iran, followed by year of graduate study at Carleton University, Canada, and PhD from the University of Nevada, Reno. His research interests include seismic behavior of concrete structures, innovative materials, resilient infrastructures, accelerated bridge construction, large-scale testing, and nonlinear structural analysis. In his PhD curriculum, he developed a new generation of bridge columns that can be built relatively in short time but with seismic performance that is equal to or better than conventionally cast-in-place bridge columns. During his time at UNR, he worked on three different projects funded by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) and the ABC-UTC. The scope of the NCHRP project was to explore new bridge column performance with innovative energy dissipating systems and propose design guidelines for innovative columns. The objective of ABC-UTC projects was to develop design guidelines for pocket connections and mechanical bar splices, which are types of accelerated bridge construction connections. Dr. Tazarv is currently an assistant professor of civil engineering at the S. Dakota State University.

Negar Naeimi (PhD): Negar was a PhD student of structural engineering at University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). She obtained her BSc and MSc in structural engineering from Isfahan University of Technology (IUT), Iran. In her master degree program, she extended an existing monotonic constitutive model of masonry to a cyclic one. In the PhD program, her focus is on the experimental tests and numerical modeling of Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC) to develop a uniaxial constitutive model for UHPC. This model is intended to be used in the design and analysis of UHPC components. Negar is an active member and one of the officers of Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) student chapter at UNR.

Andrew Stephenson (MS): Andrew Stephenson was a MS student in structural and earthquake engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). He received his BS in civil engineering from UNR in the Spring of 2019. Following the rapid growth of high-speed railway transportation and the advancement of railway technology, precise analysis of dynamic interaction for train vehicles and bridges has turned into a significant issue. He is researching numerical modeling techniques for high-speed rail (HSR) systems with emphasis on train-track-bridge interactions, and hopes to contribute to the advancement of HSR by creating modeling guidelines and conducting parametric studies.

Christian Camarena (MS): Christian Camarena was an undergraduate civil engineering major completed his BS at the University of Nevada Reno. He is also a participant in the BS/MS program at UNR and plans on continuing his studies in structural engineering upon completing his undergraduate degree. Currently, Christian is gaining experience as an undergraduate researcher assisting in testing ABC-UTC bridges and is interested in seismic isolation, bridge construction, and earthquake simulation.

Deependra Subedi (MS, 2019): Deependra was an MS student at UNR with focus in Earthquake and Structural Engineering. He received his Bachelor’s Degree from Institute of Engineering, Central Campus, Tribhuvan University, Nepal. After his graduation, he worked for 18 months as a civil engineer on Building Code Implementation Project in Municipalities of Nepal with NSET(National Society for Earthquake Technology-Nepal). He joined UNR in the Fall of 2017 as a graduate research assistant and worked on development of non-proprietary UHPC materials as an alternative to UHPC to be used in ABC bridge column connections. He was actively involved in development and characterization of the potential mixes. He also helped in testing  pullout specimens to establish the anchorage behavior of the developed mixes. The project will then proceed to the cycling testing of two approximately half scale columns to evaluate the structural and seismic behavior of the mixes in ABC bridge column connections. This project aimed to establish a less expensive, less restrictive alternative and to avoid sole source specifications for ABC column connections in California. In January of 2019 he was added to the list of graduate students whom are partially supported by the ABC_UTC. He graduated in May, 2019 and is seeking a career in industries related to bridge technologies.

Emily Lescher (BS/MS): Emily was an undergraduate civil engineering student at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). She is a participant in the Accelerated BS/MS program and plans on receiving her Master’s Degree in structural engineering. Currently, Emily is working on a project that analyzes a bridge system with ABC connections and is interested in bridge construction and concrete design. She has also worked as an undergraduate teaching assistant in the Engineering Design Lab at UNR for the past three years.

Evan Jordan (MSc, 2018): Evan is former  a MS student at UNR with a focus on structural Engineering. He received his BS in civil engineering from UNR in spring of 2017. His research topic is focusing on the dynamic and seismic behavior of mechanical couplers for ABC connections. He is devising a new apparatus and novel testing protocol for dynamic loading (with cyclic load reversals) for mechanical couplers for use in the plastic hinge region of a bridge column. Evan graduated in May 2018 and is now employed at Magnusson Klemencic Associates, a structural engineering design firm in Seattle, Washington, as a structural engineer.

Alicia Robb (BS, 2016):  Alicia is an undergraduate research assistant in civil engineering at UNR. She is working on one of the UNR ABC-UTC research projects on seismic response of ABC connections and advanced materials in two-column piers.  Alicia is an active member of the American Society of Civil Engineers at UNR, participating in both the water treatment and concrete canoe teams in her spare time.

Colton Schaefer (BS, 2015):  Colton graduated with a BS in Civil Engineering from the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) in December 2015. During his studies at UNR, he placed an emphasis on structural engineering courses and participated in the newly developed Accelerated BS/MS Program. Colton worked on the ABC-UTC project entitled “Evaluation of Seismic Performance of Bridge Columns with Couplers and Development of Design Guidelines.” His academic interests include seismic responses of bridges, accelerated bridge construction, and, ultimately, design of these elements. He was also an active member of the US Navy Reserves serving on two deployments over the recent years.

Oscar Chavira (BS) : Oscar Chavira was an undergraduate civil engineering student at the University of Nevada, Reno completing his Bachelors of Science. He also participated in the Accelerated BS/MS program for Civil Engineering and plans to continue his studies in geotechnical engineering upon completing his undergraduate degree. Oscar gained experience as an undergraduate researcher by assisting researchers in ABC-UTC column testing and is interested in foundations and seismic simulation.

Osvaldo Arias (BS):  Osvaldo was a civil engineering undergraduate student at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). His studies placed an emphasis in structural engineering and he plans on receiving his Master’s Degree in structural engineering at UNR. He assisted in preparing, assembling, and loading specimens onto the earthquake simulation tables where he has built great interest in accelerated bridge construction, seismic bridge response, and concrete design. He was also the Mix Design Manager of the UNR ASCE-AGC Student Chapter Concrete Canoe Team. He contributed to several ABC seismic research project funded by various agencies. Caltrans, the Nevada DOT, and Washington State DOT are providing funds that are partially counted as UNR’s ABC-UTC match.

Quinn Lovelady (BSc, 2018): Quinn Lovelady graduated from the civil engineering program at the University of Nevada Reno in the Fall of  2018. He is currently employed as Farr West Engineering where he is an Engineer in Training. He plans on working at Farr West for the foreseeable future to gain the experience needed to become a Professional Engineer.

Tommy Liang (BS): Tommy Liang was an undergraduate civil engineering major currently completing his BS at the University of Nevada Reno. He plans to enroll in the BS/MS program during his studies at the University of Nevada, Reno and continue his graduate studies towards structural engineering after completing his undergraduate degree. Currently, Tommy is gaining experience as an undergraduate researcher assisting in testing ABC-UTC bridges and is interested in structural construction with an emphasis on bridges. Tommy is currently a member of the American Society of Civil Engineering Student Chapter at UNR, dedicating his spare time towards the concrete canoe team.

Wheeler Musnicki (BS, 2016 ):  Wheeler graduated with his Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Nevada Reno (UNR). In the undergraduate program, he has placed an emphasis on the structural engineering courses. He is also a member of the ASCE concrete canoe team. He is currently contributing to an ABC seismic research project on bridge column hinges funded by Caltrans. Caltrans is providing funds that are partially counted as UNR’s ABC-UTC match.