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Research Area: Structural Engineering

Engineering Stronger, Safer, and More Sustainable Structures.

Explore Structural Engineering Research

Research Includes: Structural dynamics, earthquake & wind engineering, materials behavior, advanced structural sensing.
Research in Structural Engineering emphasizes both theoretical and practical aspects, including computer-aided engineering, structural dynamics, and earthquake and wind engineering analysis and design. Structural engineers at the University of Utah focus on performance-based design and investigate the behavior of structures made from reinforced and prestressed concrete, structural steel, timber, and composites.

In the News

Student Spotlight: Rupesh Uprety
August 4, 2026 Research, Structural Engineering, Students

For Rupesh Uprety, earthquake engineering isn't just an academic discipline—it's personal. When...

Luis Ibarra Awarded Fulbright Scholarship on Earthquake Resilience
July 17, 2026 Awards, Research, Structural Engineering

Luis Ibarra, assistant professor in the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, is...

Full Steam Ahead
November 29, 2025 Research, Structural Engineering, Transportation

The University of Utah is taking a leading role in advancing smart...

CvEEN Bring Home Best Poster Paper Award at Stanford-Hosted Conference
September 15, 2025 Awards, Research, Structural Engineering

We’re proud to announce that a team from the University of Utah’s Department...

How Sound is Making Railways and Infrastructure Safer
May 31, 2025 Research, Structural Engineering

In 2023, a 9,300-foot freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed in East...

Enhancing Road Durability and Resource Optimization
August 17, 2024 Materials, Research, Structural Engineering

Designing effective pavements—an essential infrastructure component used extensively—requires detailed information about material...

Faculty

Roshina Babu
Roshina Babu
Assistant Professor, Lecturer
Construction engineering & management
Steven Bartlett
Steven Bartlett
Professor Emeritus
Lateral spread displacement mapping, EPS geofoam, numerical modeling, construction performance modeling, multilayered clays
Fei Ding
Fei Ding
Assistant Professor
Computational wind and structural engineering, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), scientific machine learning (ML), high-performance computing (HPC)
Luis Ibarra
Luis Ibarra
Associate Professor
Seismic modeling, BISON capabilities, dry cask storage performance, structural dynamics, buckling restrained braced performance
Chris Pantelides
Chris Pantelides
Professor
Timber buckling restrained brace for mass timber-braced frames, finite-element modeling, seismic fragility analysis, nonlinear models
Xuan (Peter) Zhu
Xuan (Peter) Zhu
Associate Professor
Transportation logistics & supply chains, probabilistic machine learning (ML), acoustic emission source localization, non-destructive structural analysis

Graduate Courses in Structural Engineering