Members

Our lab would not be anything without its members. We have excellent members at VT SIL and we could not do it without them! It is crucial to us that we acknowledge those who have gone before us as well as those who stand by our side and help us day-in and day-out.

Dr. Pablo Tarazaga, Founder & Director @

Dr. Tarazaga is an associate professor and the John R. Jones III Faculty Fellow in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Virginia Tech. He is also a member of the Center for Intelligent Material Systems and Structures (CIMSS) and directs the Vibrations, Adaptive Structures and Testing Laboratory (VAST). His areas of expertise are in model validation, testing, sensor network and smart material applications. He has experience in testing and validation of large structures such as helicopters and ultra lightweight satellites. He is a recipient of a 2015 Air Force Young Investigators Research Program.

Dr. Mary Kasarda, Associate Director @

Dr. Kasarda is an associate professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Virginia Tech. She is also a member of the Center for Intelligent Material Systems and Structures (CIMSS). Her areas of expertise are in vibrations and dynamic systems, rotordynamics, active magnetic bearings, and machinery health monitoring. She has also collaborated with Science Education faculty on getting engineering content into K-12 classrooms. She is the recipient of an NSF CAREER Grant and is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

Dr. Bryan Joyce, Managing Director @

Dr. Joyce is a Research Scientist in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Virginia Tech. He earned his Masters of Science and PhD from Virginia Tech. His areas of expertise are in modeling and nonlinear control of complex systems, smart material applications, and testing. Bryan is one of the earlier contributors in the implementation of distributed sensing for the Virginia Tech Smart Infrastructure Laboratory.

Dr. Zhiwu Xie, Associate Director @

Dr Xie is an associate professor and a Technology Development Librarian in the Center for Digital Research and Scholarship, Virginia Tech Libraries. His areas of expertise are in digital repository, digital preservation, and web archiving.

Dr. Mark Embree, Associate Director @

Dr. Embree is a Professor of Mathematics and member of the Interdisciplinary Center for Applied Mathematics (ICAM). His research interests include inverse eigenvalue problems in vibration, spectral theory for non-self-adjoint operators, and algorithms for large-scale linear algebra.

Core Faculty

Dr. Matthew Eatherton @

Dr. Eatherton is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech. He also manages the Eatherton Research Group on seismically resilient and sustainable structural systems.

Dr. Roberto Leon @

Dr. Leon is the David H. Burrows Professor of Construction Engineering in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech. He is acknowledged to be one of the leading researchers in the field of steel-concrete composite structures and earthquake engineering. His work has affected numerous national and international design codes.

Dr. Serkan Gugercin @

Dr. Gugercin is a professor in the Mathematics Department at Virginia Tech. He is also a member of the Interdiciplinary Center for Applied Mathematics (ICAM). His areas of expertise are in dynamical systems and numerical analysis. He has experience in optimal approximation and control of large-scale systems and nonlinear inverse problems.

Thomas Tucker @

Tucker is an associate professor in the School of Visual Arts at Virginia Tech. Some of his projects include: dealing with body mechanics using motion capture, using technology to create a responsive virtual heritage environment in collaboration with art historians, using animation to describe internal organ movements in collaboration with bimolecular imaging specialists, helping city councilmen visualize new traffic simulations and designing serious games.

Dr. Jeff Borggaard @

Dr. Borggaard is a professor in the Mathematics Department at Virginia Tech. He is also a member of the Interdisciplinary Center for Applied Mathematics (ICAM). His areas of expertise cover a broad range of computational science and engineering. He has experience in developing new algorithms for optimal design, estimation, and control of engineering systems.

Dr. Ran Jin @

Dr. Ran Jin is an Assistant Professor at the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech. His research interests are in engineering driven data fusion for system modeling, monitoring, diagnosis and control.

Dr. Karl Precoda @

Dr. Precoda teaches cinema history and dramaturgy for the School of Performing Arts and social and cultural theory for the Department of Sociology. He is also affiliated with the Center for 21st Century Studies (C21S) and the Alliance for Social, Political, Ethical, and Cultural Thought (ASPECT).

Dr. Kevin Kochersberger @

Dr. Kochersberger is an associate professor in the VT Department of Mechanical Engineering. He is also director of the VT Unmanned Systems Laboratory. His research areas are Dynamics and control, autonomous aerial systems, applied aerodynamics, and modal analysis

Beth Howell - Program Manager @

Beth Howell is the program manager for VT SIL. She has served as the Program Manager for CIMSS since 1990. She brings to the group more than 32 years of university experience in the administration and management of research projects, having begun her career at Virginia Tech in 1979 as a Laboratory Technician in Physics.

Dr. Mike Buehrer @

Dr. R. Michael Buehrer is a professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and the Director of Wireless @ Virgina Tech. His areas of expertise are in geolocation, wireless communications, radio wave propagation, cognitive radio techniques, and dynamic spectrum access.

Dr. Benjamin Knapp @

Dr. R. Benjamin Knapp is the Director of the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology (ICAT) and Professor of Computer Science at Virginia Tech. ICAT seeks to promote research and education at the boundaries between art, design, engineering, and science. Dr. Knapp also leads the Music, Sensors, and Emotion research group, with researchers in the UK and the US.

Dr. Ivica Bukvic @

Dr. Bukvic is an associate professor in the School of Music at Virginia Tech. Fueled by a synergistic outlook, his work is a balancing act between scientific research of new multimedia technologies for the purpose of betterment of the overall quality of life and a pursuit of new forms of artistic expression using newfound tools.

Dr. David Kniola @

Dr. Kniola is an assistant professor in Education Research and affiliated assistant professor in Higher Education at Virginia Tech. His areas of expertise include broad range of higher education issues, teaching and learning, and quantitative methods in social science.

Dr. Tim Baird @

Dr. Baird's research and teaching focus on conservation, development and sustainability, especially in the developing world. Recently, his work in rural Africa has looked at how local groups are adapting to protected areas, engaging a globalizing world, and embracing new technologies. He is also interested in how social networks change, how the creative process evolves, and how people respond to disruption. This work relates to scholarship in human/ environment interactions, livelihood studies, human ecology, and resilience studies.

Affiliated Faculty

Dr. Chreston Miller @

Dr. Chreston Miller is the Data and Informatics Consultant for the College of Engineering, Virginia Tech Libraries. His area of expertise is data analytics with a focus on pattern identification and analysis of temporal sequences of events, especially for multimodal behavior analytics. He has experience in machine learning, data mining, human-centric computing, and algorithms/techniques to identify patterns challenging to identify through conventional approaches.

Andi Ogier

Andi Ogier is the Data Science and Informatics Librarian in the Center for Digital Research and Scholarship, Virginia Tech Libraries. She consults on data management planning and on data-intensive informatics projects.

Nathan Hall @

Hall directs projects for VTechWorks, a library service for organizing and disseminating the work of faculty and students as core collections, as well as a tool for adding value to existing library collections through digitization and curation.

Dr. Denise R. Simmons @

Denise R. Simmons, PhD., PE is an assistant professor in the MLSoC at Virginia Tech. Her research interests are in exploring sustainable infrastructure and in increasing the participation of underrepresented groups in construction and engineering. She is currently investigating the impact of co-curricular activities on African American students’ development of the attributes of the engineer of 2020

External Affiliated Faculty and Researchers

Dr. Dan Inman

Dr. Inman is the Clarence "Kelly" Johnson Professor; Professor, Aerospace Engineering; Department Chair, Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan. His work is active in research involving smart materials and structures as applied to morphing aircraft, energy harvesting, structural health monitoring and clearance control in jet engines. He currently has projects in gust alleviation in UAVs, cable harnessed satellites and wind turbine blade monitoring.

Dr. Missy Cummings

Dr. Cummings is an Associate Professor at Duke University and Director of the Humans and Automation Laboratory. Her research interests include human supervisory control, human-unmanned vehicle interaction, bounded collaborative human-computer decision making, direct-perception decision support, simulation and evaluation of human interaction in automated systems, and the ethical and social impact of technology.

Dr. Anne Kiremidjian

Dr. Kiremidjian is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University and currently focuses on the development of wireless structural health monitoring systems; development of damage detection algorithms using statistical pattern recognition and machine learning methods; data fusion from multiple sensors for more robust damage diagnosis.

Dr. Tony Shakal

Dr. Shakal is the Manager of the California Strong Motion Instrumentation Program (CSMIP). CSMIP installs state-of-the-art earthquake monitoring devices called "accelerographs" at various representative geologic foundation materials throughout California to measure the ground shaking. When activated by earthquake shaking, the devices produce a record from which important characteristics of ground motion can be calculated.

Dr. Moh Huang

Dr. Huang works for the California Strong Motion Instrumentation Program (CSMIP) as the engineering manager.

Graduate Students

Joseph Hamilton

Graduate Research Assistant
Mechanical Engineering, Ph.D. Candidate
B.S. University of Central Florida. Orlando, FL.

Research Topic: Instrumentation and health monitoring of Virginia Tech's Signature Engineering Building

Jessi Thangjitham

Graduate Research Assistant
Civil Engineering, M.S. Candidate
B.S. Civil Engineering, Virginia Tech

Research Topic: Structural damage detection using floor response spectra.

Mico Woolard

Graduate Research Assistant
Mechanical Engineering, M.S. Candidate
B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Tech

Research Topic: Human path tracking using through floor measurements.

Dustin Bales

Graduate Research Assistant
Mechanical Engineering, M.S. Candidate
B.S. Mechanical Engineering, University of Wyoming

Research Topic: Machine Learning Algorithms for Path Tracking in a Built Environment.

Rodrigo Sarlo

Graduate Research Assistant
Mechanical Engineering, Ph.D. Candidate
B.S. Mechanical Engineering, University of Virginia

Research Topic: TBD.

Sriram Malladi

Graduate Research Assistant
Mechanical Engineering, Ph.D.. Candidate
Bachelor of Technology in Mining Machinery Engineering, India School of Mines

Research Topic: Blind signal separation of structural vibrations.

Sa'ed Alajlouni

Graduate Research Assistant
Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ph.D. Candidate
B.S. Mechanical Engineering, University of Virginia
M.S. Texas Tech University

Research Topic: TBD.

Jeff Poston

Graduate Research Assistant
Electrical Engineering, Ph.D.. Candidate
M.S. Electrical Engineering, George Washington University
B.S. Electrical Engineering, Virginia Tech

Research Topic: Indoor localization and tracking of persons via building vibration sensing

Undergraduate Research

Leah Rosso

Leah Rosso
Undergraduate Research Student
General Engineering

Research Topic: Blind signal separation of structural vibration.

Visiting Scholar

Rémi Leullieux

Visitor from ICAM, Lille, France

Research Topic: Experimental triangulation of floor impacts

Collaborations with other research groups and institutes

VT SIL strives to develop a collaborative environment not only with other faculty, but with other institutions and laboratories which can foster a complementary environment for advancing our goals.

The Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology

Vibrations, Adaptive Structures and Testing Laboratory

Center for Intelligent Material Systems and Structures

Center for Energy Harvesting Materials and Systems

Past Members

Bryan Joyce

Graduate Research Assistant
GAANN Fellow
Mechanical Engineering, Ph.D. Candidate
M.S. Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Tech B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Tech

Research Topic: Mimicking hair cells for auditory restoration.

Derek Carpenter

Undergraduate Student
Mechanical Engineering

Research Topic: 3D rendering of the signature engineering building for live data overlay

Chris Keener

Undergraduate Student
Mechanical Engineering

Research Topic: Modal analysis of large structures in the field

Jake Culley

Undergraduate Student
Mechanical Engineering

Research Topic: Management of large data sets