School of Engineering
Showing 201-300 of 373 Results
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Simona Meiler
Postdoctoral Scholar, Civil and Environmental Engineering
BioI am a weather and climate risk scientist, studying how hazard, exposure, and vulnerability interact to shape the risks and impacts of extreme weather events – both today and in a changing climate. My work combines modeling and systems thinking to explore a range of topics, including tropical cyclone risk, uncertainty and sensitivity analysis, human displacement, post-disaster recovery, and systemic risk. My approach is inherently interdisciplinary, with the goal of translating model insights into real-world applications that support climate-resilient decision-making.
I am currently a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University, supported by an SNSF Postdoc.Mobility fellowship, working with Prof. Jack W. Baker. I completed my PhD at ETH Zurich in weather and climate risk modeling, with a focus on global tropical cyclone risk and uncertainty quantification, under the supervision of Prof. David N. Bresch. -
Marek Miltner
Affiliate, Program-Rajagopal, R.
BioMarek is a researcher and postgraduate student in the fields of Artificial Intellignence for Energy Sustainability, and Technology Policy connected to it. He has also been teaching Computer Science courses at university level since 2018, and at Stanford since 2020.
He has received an MPhil in Technology Policy from the University of Cambridge (UK), and an MEng in Innovation Management and Artificial Intelligence from Czech Technical University (EU). In the past, he has led a research team that built the first autonomous electric vehicle in the Czech Republic. -
Eduardo Miranda
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsRegional seismic risk assessment, ground motion directionality
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William Mitch
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
BioBill Mitch received a B.A. in Anthropology (Archaeology) from Harvard University in 1993. During his studies, he excavated at Mayan sites in Belize and surveyed sites dating from 2,000 B.C. in Louisiana. He switched fields by receiving a M.S. degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley. He worked for 3 years in environmental consulting, receiving his P.E. license in Civil Engineering in California. Returning to UC Berkeley in 2000, he received his PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering in 2003. He moved to Yale as an assistant professor after graduation. His dissertation received the AEESP Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award in 2004. At Yale, he serves as the faculty advisor for the Yale Student Chapter of Engineers without Borders. In 2007, he won a NSF CAREER Award. He moved to Stanford University as an associate professor in 2013.
Employing a fundamental understanding of organic chemical reaction pathways, his research explores links between public health, engineering and sustainability. Topics of current interest include:
Public Health and Emerging Carcinogens: Recent changes to the disinfection processes fundamental to drinking and recreational water safety are creating a host of highly toxic byproducts linked to bladder cancer. We seek to understand how these compounds form so we can adjust the disinfection process to prevent their formation.
Global Warming and Oceanography: Oceanic dissolved organic matter is an important global carbon component, and has important impacts on the net flux of CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere. We seek to understand some of the important abiotic chemical reaction pathways responsible for carbon turnover.
Sustainability and Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs): While PCBs have been banned in the US, we continue to produce a host of structurally similar chemicals. We seem to understand important chemical pathways responsible for POP destruction in the environment, so we can design less persistent and problematic chemicals in the future.
Engineering for Sustainable Wastewater Recycling: The shortage of clean water represents a critical challenge for the next century, and has necessitated the recycling of wastewater. We seek to understand ways of engineer this process in ways to minimize harmful byproduct formation.
Carbon Sequestration: We are evaluating the formation of nitrosamine and nitraminecarcinogens from amine-based carbon capture, as well as techniques to destroy any of these byproducts that form. -
Aadhityaa Mohanavelu
Ph.D. Student in Civil and Environmental Engineering, admitted Autumn 2023
BioAadhityaa Mohanavelu is a Ph.D. candidate in the Osman Lab at Stanford University, where he works on quantifying water and infrastructure challenges and developing more equitable and resilient infrastructure systems. His research uses tools and techniques from diverse disciplines, including computational modeling, artificial intelligence, qualitative methodology, spatial analysis, and sensor-based experiments, to better understand infrastructure and environmental problems and develop innovative solutions.
He has a strong background in modeling hydro-climatic systems, studying infrastructure resilience, and assessing environmental hazards. Aadhityaa is a 2023 Quad Fellow in the inaugural cohort. Outside research, he loves to hike, read books and travel. -
Stephen Monismith
Obayashi Professor in the School of Engineering and Professor of Oceans
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsHydrodynamics of lakes, estuaries, coral reefs, kelp forests and the coastal ocean
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Jonathan Lee Montoya
Affiliate, Civil and Environmental Engineering
BioJonathan Lee Montoya studies equitable pathways in STEM disciplines at the intersection of Engineering and Computer Science Education. Jonathan is a practitioner at heart. He holds secondary teaching credentials in Biological Sciences, Geosciences, and Career Technical Education. He has also taught Virtual Design and Construction. Jonathan received his Ph.D. and M.A. in Education from the University of California, Irvine, where he was an NSF Ridge to Reef Scholar and Eugene Cota-Robles Scholar. He also holds an M.A. in STEEM education from Santa Clara University, where he was an NSF Robert Noyce Teacher Scholar. Jonathan received his B.S. in Environmental Sciences with an emphasis in Ethics at Cal Poly Humboldt. While at Humboldt, he also studied Botany and Environmental Education in Argentina and Chile.
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Joseph Fitzpatrick Moore, P.E.
Adjunct Lecturer, Civil and Environmental Engineering
BioMember, State Bar of California; Registered California Professional Civil Engineer; Fellow, American College of Construction Lawyers; Past Chair, International Bar Associaton, International Construction Projects Commitee; Board Member, International Constructon Law Alliance. Partner, Hanson Bridgett, LLP. Joseph is a dual qualified lawyer and civil engineer. His law practice focuses on complex domestic and international construction projects and disputes.
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Dinesh D Moorjani
Student, Program-Jain, R.
BioDinesh Moorjani is a serial tech founder & CEO, venture capital investor, and professor. He is the founder and Managing Partner of Time Zero Capital, a technology venture capital firm investing in responsible innovation.
Dinesh founded Hatch Labs Inc. where he served as Chairman & CEO and cofounded Tinder (NASDAQ: MTCH) in 2012. Dinesh built several technology companies including Saffronart, a global eCommerce marketplace for Indian fine art and collectibles backed by Sequoia Capital, where he continues to serve on the board. Dinesh also cofounded Kleverbeast—a no-code SaaS application development platform and Monet Analytics—an AI platform that decodes human emotion.
Dinesh served in numerous executive leadership roles at multinational corporations, including as Managing Director at Comcast Ventures, Sr. Vice President and Group Head of Mobility at IAC/InterActive Corp, and in various leadership roles at Samsung Electronics in the US and Asia. He built his early career in the Global Energy Practice at AD Little, Goldman Sachs, and as an early employee at Mainspring (IPO 2000, acquired by IBM 2001). Dinesh served as an independent board director at Alight (NYSE: ALIT) and on the advisory boards of Fortune 500 companies including American Express, Assurant, and Cox Automotive. He served on the board of directors of Zoox (acquired by Amazon), a leader in autonomous vehicles. Dinesh served as an advisor to Warburg Pincus, the global private equity firm, where he was previously an EIR, co-investing alongside the firm and serving in a governance capacity on portfolio company boards.
Dinesh is an adjunct professor at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, and regularly guest lectures at Harvard, Stanford, and MIT. Dinesh also serves on the Harvard Business School California Research Center Advisory Board. He supports disenfranchised youth and education through his non-profit work as a board director at the United Friends of the Children and the Organization for Social Media Safety. Dinesh continues to serve as a Board Trustee at the University of California, Merced. Dinesh earned his BS in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University and MBA from Harvard. Dinesh is a PhD Candidate in the Engineering Department at Stanford University. -
Adam Nayak
Acting Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering
BioAdam Nayak will join Stanford Civil & Environmental Engineering as an Assistant Professor in Summer 2027. His research examines how the spatiotemporal organization of storms, floods, and droughts shapes risk across interconnected infrastructure, financial, and energy systems. Broadly, Adam’s work aims to bridge climate risk, stochastic hydrology, and machine learning to support resilient and affordable pathways for communities facing intensifying climate extremes. Adam is currently a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, focused on research in hurricane hazards and risk analysis. He received his PhD from Columbia University in Earth & Environmental Engineering where he was a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellow, and his BS and MS from Stanford University in Civil & Environmental Engineering and Management Science & Engineering, respectively.
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Kopal Nihar
Postdoctoral Scholar, Civil and Environmental Engineering
BioI am a postdoctoral scholar working with Dr. Catherine Gorle, Dr. Sarah Billington and Dr. Rishee Jain. I also did a PhD from Stanford advised by Dr Rishee Jain at Urban Informatics Lab. My research interest lies in understanding data-driven human-building interactions and impact of indoor air quality on occupant behaviour, especially for the purpose of natural cooling.
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Hae Young Noh
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
BioHae Young Noh is a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Her research introduced the new concept of “structures as sensors” to enable physical structures (e.g., buildings and vehicle frames) to be user- and environment-aware. In particular, these structures indirectly sense humans and surrounding environments through their structural responses (i.e., vibrations) by inferring the desired information (e.g., human behaviors, environmental conditions, heating and cooling system performance), instead of directly measuring the sensing targets with additional dedicated sensors (e.g., cameras, motion sensors). This concept brought a paradigm shift in how we view these structures and how the structures interact with us.
Traditionally, structures that we inhabit (such as buildings or vehicles) are considered as passive and unchanging objects that we need to monitor and control, utilizing a dense set of sensors to collect information. This has often been complicated by “noise” caused by the occupants and environments. For example, building vibrations induced by indoor and outdoor environmental and operational conditions (e.g., people walking around, traffic outside, heating system running, etc.), have been often seen as noise that needs to be removed in traditional building science and structural engineering; however, they are a rich source of information about structure, users, environment, and resources. Similarly, in vehicle engineering, researchers and engineers have been investigating control and dynamics to reduce vehicle vibration for safety and comfort. However, vibrations measured inside vehicles contain information about transportation infrastructure, vehicle itself, and driver.
Noh's work utilizes this “noise” to empower the structures with the ability to perceive and understand the information about users and surroundings using their own responses, and actively adopt and/or interact to enhance their sustainability and the occupants’ quality of life. Since she utilizes the structure itself as a sensing medium, information collection involves a simpler set of hardware that can be easily maintained throughout the structural lifetime. However, the analysis of data to separate the desired information becomes more challenging. This challenge is addressed through high-rate dynamic sensing and multi-source inferencing. Ultimately, her work aims to allow structural systems to become general sensing platforms that are easier and more practical to deploy and maintain in a long-term.
At Stanford University, Noh received her PhD and MS degrees in the CEE department and her second MS degree in Electrical Engineering. Noh earned her BS in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University. -
Leonard Ortolano
UPS Foundation Professor of Civil Engineering in Urban and Regional Planning, Emeritus
BioOrtolano is concerned with environmental and water resources policy and planning. His research stresses environmental policy implementation in developing countries and the role of non-governmental organizations in environmental management. His recent interests center on corporate environmental management.
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Khalid Osman
Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Center Fellow, by courtesy, at the Woods Institute for the Environment
BioKhalid Osman joined the department as an Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering in autumn of 2022. His research spans the use of mixed quantitative-qualitative methods to assess public perceptions of water infrastructure, water conservation efforts, and the management of existing infrastructure systems to meet the needs of those being served by the systems. He currently is focused on the operationalization of equity in water sector infrastructure, conceptualizing equity in decentralized water and sanitation systems, water affordability, and stakeholder-community engagement in sustainable civil infrastructure systems for achieving environmental justice.
Khalid was the holder of a Bill and Melinda Gates Millennium Scholars Graduate Fellowship and also a Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship. -
Nicholas Ouellette
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Current Research and Scholarly InterestsThe Environmental Complexity Lab studies self-organization in a variety of complex systems, ranging from turbulent fluid flows to granular materials to collective motion in animal groups. In all cases, we aim to characterize the macroscopic behavior, understand its origin in the microscopic dynamics, and ultimately harness it for engineering applications. Most of our projects are experimental, though we also use numerical simulation and mathematical modeling when appropriate. We specialize in high-speed, detailed imaging and statistical analysis.
Our current research includes studies of turbulence in two and three dimensions, with a focus on coherent structures and the geometry of turbulence; the transport of inertial, anisotropic, and active particles in turbulence; the erosion of granular beds by fluid flows and subsequent sediment transport; quantitative measurements of collective behavior in insect swarms and bird flocks; the stability of ocean ecosystems; neural signal processing; and uncovering the natural, self-organized spatiotemporal scales in urban systems. -
Yuandong PAN
Postdoctoral Scholar, Civil and Environmental Engineering
BioYuandong Pan is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the School of Engineering at Stanford University. His research focuses on developing digital and smart approaches to support more sustainable buildings, infrastructure, and cities. Before joining Stanford, he was a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Future Road Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge. His work aims to improve how the built environment is designed, managed, and maintained, contributing to smarter, more resilient, and more sustainable urban systems.
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Emily Weymouth Bailey Pastewka
Masters Student in Civil and Environmental Engineering, admitted Autumn 2026
BioHead of Data @ Palmetto Energy. Columbia MS ML, Duke undergrad EnvSci & Econ. Past work @ Uber, Rent the Runway, Opower.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilypastewka/ -
Forest Olaf Peterson, Ph.D.
Staff, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Research Affiliate, ContingentBioDr. Forest Olaf Peterson is Co-Director of the Stanford Workforce VDC Lab, an initiative of the Stanford School of Engineering and Doerr School of Sustainability. Peterson teaches Construction Project Assessment and Budgeting (CEE 240), developed the foundational concept of the VDC-capable construction workforce, and runs an educator certification program placing faculty across Silicon Valley.
As founder of Palo Alto Data Group, Peterson leads development of eCPR, a data infrastructure platform for labor standards enforcement on public works. Peterson holds the California franchise for cadwork, a Swiss BIM platform and CIFE industry member, on building information modeling for heavy civil infrastructure, including highway and rail. Previously, as the founding employee at Rhumbix, a construction technology startup backed by Greylock Partners, Peterson made the Series A pitch.
Public service roles include Palo Alto Planning and Transportation Commissioner, chair of the Flood Protection Bond Oversight Subcommittee at Valley Water, board director of the Santa Clara County Construction Careers Association, a nonprofit, and he is a subject matter expert contributor to California labor standards legislation.
Peterson holds M.S., Engineer, and Ph.D. degrees from Stanford. The doctoral work, completed under Terry Winograd, made a seminal contribution — 'change' as a formal primitive in AI agent ontologies applied to construction project monitoring. Peterson is a three-time named engineering fellow at Stanford — Brahtz, Oglesby, and Olsen. His research on teaching construction project management is one of the most cited papers for its influence on construction engineering education internationally.
Peterson brings both blue-collar and white-collar perspectives to the role of scholar of infrastructure. For seven years before Stanford, he was a concrete laborer on large infrastructure projects with the Laborers' International Union of North America. Those years taught social and environmental dimensions from the ground up. His fellow laborers wanted to work safely. However, though skilled, they often did not have the information to succeed without unnecessary hardship. Without it, on a large highway project, a two-ton barrier dropped and hit something that flipped it over where it came to rest just inches above Peterson's chest. They celebrated his chance survival. One cried in memory of a recent work fatality. They were told to get back to work. The futility of the situation has left a lasting impression.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/forest-peterson
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Forest-Peterson -
Ashton Pihl
Ph.D. Student in Civil and Environmental Engineering, admitted Summer 2025
BioI am a first-year PhD Student in the Baker Coastal Lab researching surf-zone circulation generated by short-crested breaking waves. I am interested in studying the along-crest variability in energy dissipation, the unsteady structure associated with injected vertical and horizontal vorticity, and the evolution of vertical vorticity structures linked to the shoreward propagation of bores using laboratory experimental methods and theoretical analysis.
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Ram Rajagopal
Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, of Electrical Engineering and Senior Fellow at the Precourt Institute for Energy
BioRam Rajagopal is an Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University, where he directs the Stanford Sustainable Systems Lab (S3L), focused on large-scale monitoring, data analytics and stochastic control for infrastructure networks, in particular, power networks. His current research interests in power systems are in the integration of renewables, smart distribution systems, and demand-side data analytics.
He holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences and an M.A. in Statistics, both from the University of California Berkeley, Masters in Electrical and Computer Engineering from University of Texas, Austin and Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He is a recipient of the NSF CAREER Award, Powell Foundation Fellowship, Berkeley Regents Fellowship and the Makhoul Conjecture Challenge award. He holds more than 30 patents and several best paper awards from his work and has advised or founded various companies in the fields of sensor networks, power systems, and data analytics. -
Martin Reinhard
Professor (Research) of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Emeritus
BioReinhard studies the fate of organic substances in the subsurface environment and develops technologies for the remediation of groundwater contaminated with chlorinated and non-chlorinated hydrocarbon compounds. His research is concerned with mechanistic aspects of chemical and biological transformation reactions in soils, natural waters, and treatment systems.
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Justin S. Rogers
Research Oceanographer, Contingent
Staff, Program-Fringer O.BioPh.D. Civil & Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, 2016
M.S. Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2006
B.S. Civil Engineering (Minor in Chemistry), University of Arizona, 2004
Research interests:
-Coastal resilience, risk, sea level rise, extreme events, compound hazards
-Impact of climate change on human and natural systems in coastal and nearshore environments
-Core model development for coastal applications, storm surge, tropical cyclones, flood risk, bottom boundary layers, turbulence, and multiscale physics.
I leverage the power of cloud computing, HPC systems and modern code frameworks, and adapt multiple analysis methods including dynamical models, machine learning, statistical methods, and field observations. -
Nitish Ranjan Sarker
Postdoctoral Scholar, Civil and Environmental Engineering
BioNitish Ranjan Sarker is a Postdoctoral Scholar at Stanford University, where he contributes to the design, execution, and evaluation of an Industrial, Agricultural, and Water FlexHub Demonstration Pilot Project. His current research focuses on developing data-driven decision-support tools for sustainable water and energy systems, integrating experimental and pilot-scale data with technoeconomic analysis (TEA) to guide system design, deployment strategies, and policy recommendations.
Nitish earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering from the University of Toronto, where his work combined laboratory-to-pilot experimentation, systems modeling, and field validation to advance resilient and affordable water technologies. Prior to that, he completed his M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alberta and his B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). His research portfolio spans off-grid solar desalination, oil-water separation and spill response technologies, and distributed water quality monitoring tools for decentralized systems. Beyond research, Nitish has engaged in interdisciplinary training and global capacity-building initiatives in Canada, Mexico, Kenya, Bangladesh, India, and France, advancing the water‑energy‑health nexus and sustainable technology adoption from lab to field. He also co-founded FRODO, a venture translating foam-based oil-water separation research into deployable spill response and produced water treatment solutions, bridging lab innovation and early commercialization. -
Carine Sauquet
Administrative Associate, Civil and Environmental Engineering
BioCarine provides administrative support to Prof.Jenna Davis & Prof. Alexandria Boehm & Prof. Meagan Mauter and their teams. Carine earned a Master’s in Computer Science Law and New Technologies, and Bachelor Degree in Business Law from University Paris XI in France. She has a background managing legal operational teams.
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Brian Sedar
Adjunct Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Bio35 years of experience in EPC work spanning project controls, procurement, project development, construction, project management and operations. Bechtel Partner and Project Director for three of Bechtel’s largest international transportation infrastructure projects (click on Projects under Research), High Speed 1 in the UK, Hamad International Airport in Qatar and Upgrades for three London Underground lines. Served as General Manager of Bechtel’s Telecoms & Industrial business, Global Procurement Manager and launched its Global Water business. Now one of Stanford's most experienced construction practitioner-instructors.
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Serdar Selamet
Adjunct Lecturer, Civil and Environmental Engineering
BioAssoc. Professor with focus on Fire Engineering, Steel Structures and Numerical Modeling. Dr. Selamet specializes in fire protection engineering with focus on buildings and structures. His areas of expertise include heat transfer analysis, stability and critical temperature assessment of structural members, passive fire protection, building envelope (i.e. façade) fires, performance-based structural analysis under fire conditions and house fires in wildland urban interface. He specializes in providing origin and cause determinations for fires and explosions. Dr. Selamet has expertise in thermo-mechanical modeling and response using finite element software Abaqus and OpenSees Fire. In addition, he has gained experience using computer zone models such as OZone and Consolidated Model of Fire and Smoke Transport (CFAST) to simulate compartment fire dynamics.
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Meghan Marjorie Shea
Postdoctoral Scholar, Civil and Environmental Engineering
BioMeghan is a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University, where she studies how to best use environmental DNA (eDNA)—little bits of DNA left behind by organisms in their ecosystems—for marine biodiversity monitoring. Her interdisciplinary approach blends science & technology studies and ocean sciences, drawing on her dual training as a social scientist and engineer. Working from the archives to the laboratory to the field, she advances eDNA tools while interrogating their social context and epistemic implications. Prior to her postdoc, she received a PhD in the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment & Resources at Stanford, an MPhil in Nature, Society and Environmental Governance from Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, and a BS in Environmental Systems Engineering from Stanford. When she's not thinking about environmental DNA, she loves cooking elaborate vegetarian meals, nurturing her house plants, and finding ways to spend as much time as possible on or near the ocean!
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Chungheon Shin
Research Engineer, Civil and Environmental Engineering
BioChungheon Shin is the Research Director of the Codiga Resource Recovery Center at Stanford University. His research advances sustainable water and environmental technologies through process intensification, environmental biotechnology, and resource recovery. By integrating biological and physicochemical processes with mechanistic and data-driven computational models, he develops engineering solutions that recover clean water, energy, and valuable resources. His work spans multiple scales, from fundamental reaction kinetics to pilot- and demonstration-scale systems, with a strong emphasis on translating research into real-world applications.
His current research focuses on three complementary areas: process intensification, resource recovery, and digital optimization of water infrastructure. He has led the development of the Staged Anaerobic Fluidized-bed Membrane Bioreactor (SAF-MBR), an energy-positive wastewater treatment technology that has advanced to demonstration scale, and is developing pilot-scale methane-to-protein technologies that convert waste methane into sustainable protein through efficient gas transfer and environmental biotechnology. His research also integrates mechanistic understanding with data-driven modeling to optimize biological treatment processes and accelerate the deployment of next-generation water technologies.
Dr. Shin received his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Inha University in South Korea, where he developed the SAF-MBR under the supervision of Professor Jaehoe Bae and Professor Perry L. McCarty. He subsequently joined the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University as a postdoctoral scholar under Professor Craig S. Criddle, where he expanded his research in environmental biotechnology, process intensification, and sustainable water infrastructure. -
Barbara G Simpson
Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
BioOur research group is made up of a small team of talented students with a wide range of skills and experience. We explore advanced computational and experimental methods to characterize structural response. Our aim is to develop innovative structural systems that improve structural performance and reduce the effects of natural hazards on the built environment.
Research areas include resilient and sustainable design and retrofit of building structures and offshore renewable energy systems, performance-based earthquake engineering, and next-generation computational modeling, including real-time hybrid simulation for fluid-structure interaction.