Civil engineers perform numerous analyses and designs of buildings, bridges, and geotechnical structures. They seek a final design that fits the desired functions and is safe to occupy. Design optimization aims to get the most efficient design in some ways. Although we can not reach the truly optimal solution, the design optimization process still reveals more exciting solutions than our intuition does.

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AI optimization techniques provide a great opportunity to solve real-world complex engineering problems. ​​We do research in applying modern design optimization techniques and computational intelligence to real-world applications through AI-driven methods. This includes, but is not limited to

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• Structural design to minimize cost, subject to constraints (i.e., design codes and environmental factors)

• Multi-objective design optimization (MOO) using either a priori or evolutionary algorithms

• Optimum design of geotechnical engineering structures based on site-specific conditions and construction methods

• Fast optimization solvers using MATLAB and Fortran calling

• Vibration control and optimization of structural dynamic systems

• Expert system development for structural engineering problems

• Discrete and combinatorial optimization problems in engineering

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