Assistant Professor X. Shelly Zhang has received this year’s Best PhD Thesis Award from the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Tech. This award is typically given to 1-2 people in the entire school each academic year. The award was presented at an awards ceremony for students, faculty and staff on December 5, 2018.

Dr. Shelly Zhang joined the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as an Assistant Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department in January 2019.  Dr. Zhang received her doctoral degree from Georgia Tech in 2018 and her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in structural engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.   Her research focuses on exploring topology optimization, stochastic programming, machine learning, and additive manufacturing to develop resilient, smart, sustainable, and innovative engineering infrastructure and materials for applications at different scales, from as large as high-rise buildings to as small as material microstructure.

 

 

 

 

 

Thesis Award Lunch held February 4, 2019 to congratulate Shelly Zhang for her achievement at Georgia Tech and to welcome her to the Structures group in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Illinois. (Left: Arif Masud, Al Valocchi, Shelly Zhang, Jim LaFave, Frank Lombardo, Paolo Gardoni. Right: Eun Jeong Cha, Al Valocchi, Shelly Zhang, Jim LaFave, Frank Lombardo, Paolo Gardoni.)