Dr. Shangjia Dong is Bentley Systems Early Career Professor, in the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, a core faculty member in the Disaster Research Center (DRC), a faculty member in the Data Science Institute (DSI), Sociotechnical System Center (SSC) and Center for Cybersecurity, Assurance and Privacy (CCAP) at the University of Delaware, and an Early Career Research Fellow (2023-2025) at National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Gulf Research Program (GRP), and NSF CAREER Awardee (2026). He is also an active member of the NSF Coastal Hazards, Economic prosperity & Resilience (CHEER) Hub. He obtained his dual B.S. in Information and Computational Science and Finance from the University of Electronic Sciences and Technology of China. After he received his M.S. and Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering and minor in Computer Sciences from Oregon State University, following which he completed post-doctoral research training at Texas A&M University. His work is funded by NSF, NIST, NOAA, FHWA, NASEM Gulf Research Program, Delaware Department of Transportation, and University of Delaware Research Foundation.

Saurabh joined the group as a Ph.D. student in Fall 2023. He completed his undergraduate at Vellore Institute of Technology, India, after which he obtained his M.S. in Computer Science from Arizona State University. He is interested in building explainable intelligence models to predict and understand the disruptions due to extreme events. His research interests include Graph Neural Networks, Explainable Artificial Intelligence, and Community Resilience.

Xiao joined the group as a Ph.D. student in Fall 2023. She earned his Bachelor's degree in Management from Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, China. She then acquired her M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Hong Kong. Xiao is interested in understanding the complex relationship between human and built-environment and developing AI-enabled decision-making tools. Her research interests include multispectral image denoising, large-scale visual language pre-training, and agent-based modeling.

Zhenhua joined the group as a Ph.D. student in Spring 2026. He earned his bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, followed by a Master of Computer Science from Rice University. He is interested in building intelligent, high-fidelity, and generalizable human-centered systems with artificial intelligence. His research interests include generative AI applications, graph-based learning, and network resilience analysis. He also enjoys outdoor activities and model kit assembly when he is free.

Hongjin received her Bachelor's degree from New York University Shanghai and her M.S. in Data Science from New York University. Her research interests lie at the intersection of data science, urban resilience, and human-environment interactions. She is interested in developing AI-enabled approaches to understand how communities and infrastructure systems adapt to natural hazards and climate extremes.

Songwen earned his bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Nanjing University of Finance and Economics and his master's degree in Instrument Science and Technology from China Jiliang University. His research focuses on applying artificial intelligence to infrastructure network generation and forecasting while incorporating physical constraints. His research interests include time-series forecasting, sensor data calibration, and practical AI applications in engineering. In his free time, he enjoys traditional Chinese martial arts, swimming, and spending time with friends.

We are always looking for strong candidates who is interested in computational urban science research.