Water quality and availability; Modeling water and solute transport in groundwater and vadose zone; measurement of unsaturated soil hydraulic properties; measurement of geohydrologic properties of soil
Deformation of MoSi2-based Alloys; Oxidation and Corrosion; Development of Magnetocaloric Alloys; Green Composites
Fluid Mechanics; Heat Transfer; Controls; Building Energy Efficiency
Broadly speaking, my main research interests are in acquiring, interpreting, and modulating electrical signals in the body. For example, some of my research has dealt with a medical technology called deep brain stimulation, by which electrical current pulses are delivered to a deep structure in the brain called the subthalamic nucleus. This therapy is used in patients with movement disorders, such as Parkinson''s disease.
Dr. Rodriguez is a structural engineer interested in merging the fields of disaster resilience and sustainability. He is most interested in quantifying the environmental impacts resulting from construction, operation, and maintenance during the service life of civil structures subjected to earthquakes. His methods include full-scale laboratory testing, mathematical modeling of physical phenomena, and probabilistic methods. He actively seeks multidisciplinary collaborations. Recent projects include (a) seismic laboratory testing of energy-efficient wood-framed walls, (b) reliability-based life cycle assessment of a concrete bridge subjected to chloride ingress and seismic loading, (c) an opinion survey of practicing structural engineers to ascertain the greatest obstacles to sustainable design, and (d) theoretical explorations of the concepts of sustainability and resilience. As a secondary area of interest, Dr. Rodriguez investigates structural response to blast and impact loading.
Dr. Gisele Ragusa is SUCCEEd''s project evaluator. She is a professor at the University of Southern California (USC) in the Viterbi School of Engineering in the Division of Engineering Education. She co-directs USC’s STEM Education Consortium and the STEM education research group. Her research interests and areas of expertise include: engineering education, engineering innovation and global preparedness, college access, STEM K-12 education and teacher education, STEM literacy education, as well as assessment and measurement in STEM education.