Shafique Ahmed, PhD Candidate
I am Shafique Ahmed. I was born and raised in Bangladesh, the country of the longest sea beach and the biggest mangrove forest in the world. In my free time, I like to play cricket and ping pong. My passion is to analyze real-life engineering problems along with the interpretation of mathematics in the process of problem-solving. My passion drove me to complete my undergraduate in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Bangladesh. After completing my undergraduate degree, I worked as a Structural Engineer. During working on projects, I found myself acutely curious to learn more about structural engineering; concurrently, my heritages were encouraging me to pursue higher degrees. In consequence, I received my Master’s degree from University of Massachusetts Lowell. During my graduate study at UMass, I worked as a Graduate Research Assistant on a project entitled, ‘Multi-modal Remote Sensing System for Transportation Inspection and Monitoring’. I joined the IMMCI Research Group to pursue my PhD degree. My current research focus is on retrofitting and monitoring of deteriorated and fatigue damaged steel structures using nanocomposite materials.
Omar Ghonima, PhD Candidate
My name is Omar Ghonima. I was born in Egypt, this ancient piece of land that has witnessed diverse groups inhabit it over the course of history. I later moved to Dubai when I was only a few months old. Growing up in Dubai and witnessing the engineering marvels via its construction boom in the late 90’s and 21st century was one of the main reasons behind my passion for Civil Engineering. Furthermore, living in a multicultural place such as Dubai in addition to traveling around Europe and the United States has exposed me to a variety of people and cultures. These experiences engineered my view of this world and allowed to me to widen my scope in respect to acceptance and tolerance of other ideas. I finished my undergraduate studies at the American University of Sharjah and then pursued my Master’s degree at Texas A&M (Aggieland Whoop!). In my free time I enjoy hiking, working out, playing soccer and squash. Moreover, I try getting involved in organizations and relish opportunities to have intellectual discussions. I am a person who is positive about every aspect of my life. I am passionate about learning new things and I am a strong believer in continuous growth. I love a challenge and that is why I joined the IMMCI Research Group to pursue my PhD degree. My current research focuses on developing a probabilistic service-life prediction model for concrete bridge decks.
Hongbo Dai, PhD Candidate
My name is Hongbo Dai. I was born and grew up in Lanzhou, China. My hometown is a beautiful city surrounded by mountains and the Yellow River (also called ‘Mother’s River of China’) passes through the downtown area. I am a man of broad interests. I like to travel and practice photography, chat and play Karaoke with friends, listen pop and R&B music, go fishing, and raise small pets (such as tropical fish and parrots). I started my undergraduate studies in Civil Engineering at Lanzhou Jiaotong University (LZJTU), China. After two years at LZJTU, I left my hometown for the United States in 2007, and began my new college career at Iowa State University. I graduated with a B.S. Degree in Civil Engineering in 2009, and two years later I earned a M.S. Degree in Structural Engineering from Iowa State University. In the fall of 2011, I started to pursue a PhD Degree at the University of Delaware and joined the IMMCI Research Group. My research is focusing on developing carbon nanotube-based sensors for the purpose of Structural Health Monitoring of civil infrastructure.