Internationally renowned Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Dr. Oral Buyukozturk, paid a visit to GUST earlier this week through a special invitation by GUST President, Professor Walid Bouhamra. Dr. Buyukozturk is in Kuwait attending the Gulf Conference on Sustainable Built Environment 2019 Kuwait as a key research lead, where Professor Bouhamra is one of the key steering committee members. 

 

The aim of the visit was to introduce Dr. Buyukozturk to the university and discuss future involvement with the upcoming College of Engineering project. Dr. Buyukozturk, was also taken on a tour around campus accompanied by visiting guest from the Missouri University of Science & Technology, Dr. Joseph Smith, GUST President Professor Walid Bouhamra, and Acting VP of Academic Affairs and Dean of College of Arts & Sciences, Dr. Ali Ansari.

 

  

 

A member of the MIT family since 1976, Dr. Oral Buyukozturk is currently a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and the Director of the Laboratory for Infrastructure Science and Sustainability at MIT. Professor Buyukozturk’s research interest is in infrastructure mechanics, materials, and sustainability integrating areas of multiscale concrete mechanics for durable and sustainable structures; and innovative sensing and data analytics towards the development of intelligent structures and resilient cities. His work in these areas have led to ground breaking developments and innovations in multiscale modeling of cementitious materials with additives, use of locally available waste materials for durable and sustainable concrete materials and construction, and in novel computer vision techniques for structural sensing with motion magnification, system identification and structural health monitoring. 

 

He has published more than 350 technical papers in refereed journals, edited books and conference proceedings, made more than 200 keynote presentations around the world, and served in different capacities in over 20 technical committees of professional societies. His work has been recognized by multiple prestigious honors and awards including the George W. Housner Structural Control and Monitoring Medal from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).