Amir H. Alavi

Education

Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.                         Civil Engineering             Ph.D. 

Iran University of Science & Technology (IUST), Tehran, Iran           Civil Engineering             M.S., B.S. 







Research Interests

Biography

Dr. Amir H. Alavi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and holds courtesy appointments in the Department of Bioengineering and Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science at the University of Pittsburgh. His multidisciplinary scientific studies are organized around three research thrusts: 1) mechanics and electronics of multifunctional materials and structures, 2) embedded self-powered sensing systems, and 3) data-driven characterization, design and discovery of engineering systems. Dr. Alavi is passionate about advancing the science of systems engineering to create integrative approaches for design, additive manufacturing and computational modelling of engineered materials and structures with advanced functionalities. Dr. Alavi is pioneering the field of “self-powered monitoring”, where the operating power of the embedded sensing systems is directly harvested from the signal being monitored. He has coined the groundbreaking concept of “meta-tribomaterials” and initiated the scientific field of “mechanical metamaterial electronics (meta-mechanotronics)”, a field that couples engineering domains of mechanical metamaterials, digital electronics and nano energy harvesting. Under the meta-mechanotronics paradigm, his team is advancing the fundamental science of designing active mechanical metamaterials in which sensing, energy harvesting, actuation, and information processing are new material properties, alongside traditional metamaterial properties. Dr. Alavi is interested in capturing the mechanical and electrical behavior of such functional materials to build the foundations for intelligent and autonomous engineered structures at nano, micro and macro scales. In addition, Dr. Alavi’s original and seminal contributions to developing and deploying advanced machine learning and bio-inspired computational techniques have established a road map for their broad applications in various engineering domains. His team is harnessing the power of the created principles and concepts in the fields of civil infrastructure, construction, aerospace, and biomedical engineering. Dr. Alavi has authored 8 books and near 200 publications in archival journals, book chapters, and conference proceedings. He has received a number of award certificates for his journal articles. He is among the Web of Science ESI's World Top 1% Scientific Minds in 2018, and Stanford University list of Top 1% Scientists in the World in 2019, 2020 and 2021. Dr. Alavi is the recipient of the NSF CAREER Award in 2023. He is the editor/guest editor of several journals such as Measurement, Chip, Automation in Construction, and ASCE-ASME Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems. Dr. Alavi received his PhD degree in Civil Engineering from Michigan State University. He also holds MSc and BSc degrees in Civil Engineering from Iran University of Science & Technology.