Afshin Zahraee, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Construction Engineering & Management Technology

Introduction

I am a tenure-track assistant professor focusing on course improvement and development to foster students learning. My research is in structural health monitoring and condition assessment.

Research Overview

My research covers the areas of structural health monitoring, namely in that of condition assessment of various structures such as bridges and wind turbines. Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) of those structures and materials are also performed to understand better if maintenance must be performed. The impact of structural health monitoring is boundless, and with emerging technologies, it is important to tap into the field’s potential in different structural and mechanical applications. The way one would measure vitals for a diagnosis at the doctor, the same must be done for much of the nation’s aging infrastructure.

I am a sports enthusiast and follow many of my teams passionately. I take trips with my wife to different cities and countries to combine seeing new places along with watching my favorite teams play.

Select Publications

Zahraee, A. H., Quinn, V. S., Gielda, L. M., & Rogers, J. L. (2022, August). Strategies to Increase Diversity and Equity in University Courses In Power Onward Conference. PNW Center for Faculty Excellence.

M.A. Hussain and A. Zahraee, “Performance analysis of IEEE 802.15.4 for QoS of bridge health monitoring,” International Conference on Structural Health Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastructure SHMII-10, Porto, Portugal, July 2021.

Zahraee, A., Hussain, M.A., & Devabhaktuni, V. (2020, May 27–29). Data Reliability and Accuracy in the Health Monitoring of a Steel Girder Bridge Using WSN [Conference workshop]. Acoustic Emission Working Group AEWG-62: Virtual Platform, Houston, TX, United States [https://1513041.mediaspace.kaltura.com/media/3_4_AfshinZahraee/1_o6wszqxu]

Zahraee, A. (2020, June 22-26). Enhancing Student Learning Through Pre-Lab Assignments and Virtual Reality/Simulation Components in the Strength of Materials Laboratory Experiments [Conference]. American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) 2020 Annual Conference; Virtual Platform. https://www.asee.org/public/conferences/172/papers/31138/view

Zahraee, A., Modares, M. and Mohammadi J., “Fatigue Analysis and Life Prediction for Wind Turbine Towers”, Presented at the Structures Congress 2018, Fort Worth, TX, April 2018
Zahraee, A., “Sustainable Structural Condition Assessment for Wind Turbine Towers”, Presented at the 25th Annual Chicago Trade Show and Symposium, Chicago, IL, March 2017.

Zahraee, A., Modares, M. and Mohammadi J., “Reliability and Sensitivity of Acoustic Emission Sensing Systems for Damage Detection”, Presented and published in Proceedings of the 57th Acoustic Emission Working Group (AEWG), Chicago, IL, May 2015.

Teaching Focus

My teaching focus is to spread knowledge and encourage learning. Spreading knowledge is done by engaging students, challenging them and being challenged by them. My aim is to aid students in developing passion to explore the theory, research, and practice of both Construction and Mechanical Engineering Technology. I mainly cover Mechanics, Structures, CAD/Simulation, and Finite Element Analysis.