August 15, 2024
We are pleased to announce the Fall ’24 Distinguished Lecture Series will include seminars from Dr. Devin K. Harris on September 26th and Dr. Burcin Bercerik-Gerber on October 24th at the Clemson University Watt Center Auditorium. Both seminars will commence at 12:30 p.m.
Dr. Devin K. Harris is chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Virginia. Dr. Harris will present a seminar titled “Adapting Infrastructure for the Future: Digital Twinning of our Aging Infrastructure.”
Dr. Harris is also a member of the Link Lab, UVA’s collaborative cyber-physical systems laboratory. He completed his undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Florida and his graduate training (M.S. and Ph.D.) at Virginia Tech. His research interests focus on large scale civil infrastructure systems with an emphasis on smart cities. His work has included studies on image-based measurement techniques, crowdsourcing, artificial intelligence, data analytics, condition assessment and structural health monitoring, and the application of innovative materials in civil infrastructure. Most recently his research has focused on technology applications in engineering education and digital twins for civil infrastructure systems.
Dr. Burcin Becerik-Gerber is chair of the Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Southern California. Dr. Becerik-Gerber’s seminar is titled “Intelligent Environments: A Journey into User-Centric Spaces with AI Innovation.”
Dr. Burcin Becerik-Gerber is also the founder and Director of USC Center for Intelligent Environments (CENTIENTS). During the last 15 years, her research focused on advanced data acquisition, modeling, visualization for design, construction, and control of user-centered responsive and adaptive built environments. She pioneered a new field: Human-Building Interaction (HBI), which is a convergent field that represents the growing complexities of the dynamic interplay between human experience and intelligence within built environments. She published her work in more than 200 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers. Her work has received support worth over $14 million from a variety of sources, including the NSF, DoE, DHS and DoT and corporate sponsors. In 2012, she was named by the MIT’s Technology Review as one of the top 35 technology innovators under the age of 35 (first civil engineering faculty to receive this recognition). She received the FIATECH Celebration of Engineering and Technology Innovation Award in 2018. The same year, she was awarded the Rutherford Visiting Fellowship by the Alan Turing Institute, UK’s national data science and AI institute. Between 2012-2019, she held the inaugural Stephen Schrank Early Career Chair. In 2020, she was appointed as a USC Viterbi Dean’s Professor. In 2021, she was elected to the National Academy of Construction. Since 2021, she serves on the Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. She received mentoring and leadership recognitions such as the Mellon Mentoring Award (2017) and an Executive Leadership in Academic Technology, Engineering and Science (ELATES) Fellowship (2021), which speak to her commitment to education and leadership in academia. In 2022, she received an Emmy Award as a co-producer of the documentary, “Lives, Not Grades,” which told the story of a novel course, she co-designed and co-taught, that focused on engineering innovation for global challenges. In 2023, she received ASCE’s Computing in Civil Engineering Award and in 2024, she received ASCE’s Peurifoy Construction Research Award and Henry L. Michel Award for Industry Advancement of Research.
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