Hello, I’m Furkan👋🏼
Briefly about me
👨🏻💻I’m a Postdoctoral Researcher and Adjunct Faculty at the University of Central Florida (UCF) Department of Civil, Environmental, and Construction Engineering (CECE).
🧑🎓️During my PhD in Civil (Structural) Engineering and was a research assistant at Civil Infrastructure Technologies for Resiliency and Safety (CITRS) labs and a teaching assistant at the UCF CECE. My PhD advisor was Professor F. Necati Catbas, who is Lockheed Martin St. Laurent Professor and the director of CITRS.
📝You can access My PhD Dissertation in the following link: Investigating Emerging Technologies In Civil Structural Health Monitoring: Generative Artificial Intelligence Virtual Reality. It explored novel and effective solutions to challenging problems in the operation and maintenance of civil infrastructure systems through the applications of Generative Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality, coupled with Structural Health Monitoring techniques.
🎯 My research aims innovative cross-disciplinary approaches to address built environment challenges and enhance the resilience of physical space at element and system levels. My research drives my commitment to interdisciplinary and impactful research in our field that is transferable (adapting to different contexts) and scalable (adaptable to different dimensions), all while targeting solutions to sustain successful outcomes long-term (sustainable).
👷 During my master’s and bachelor’s in Civil (Structural) Engineering, I worked in residential (skyscrapers) and infrastructure (bridge & airports) constructions as well as residential structural engineering design firms.
🌐 I’m also an affiliated member of ASCE & ASCE-SEI, the Chair of the ASCE-SEI Grad Student Chapter at the University of Central Florida, and have served in ASCE-SEI Graduate Student Chapter Leadership Council as chair, vice chair, and public secretary roles.
Research Interests
I am interested in using cross-disciplinary approaches to enhance the resilience of physical systems. In Civil - Structural Engineering related areas, my interests lie in the following subjects:
Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), Structural Dynamics, Modal Analysis (Experimental and Operational), Infrastructure Reliability and Resilience, Numerical Modeling and Analysis, Steel and Concrete Structures, Bridge Load Rating, System Diagnostics and Prognostics.
In multidisciplinary areas, my interests lie in the following areas:
Generative AI (GANs, Diffusion Models, Transformers), Robotics (Unmanned Ground and Aerial Vehicles), Virtual Reality (VR) and other Immersive Visualization tools, Digital Twin, Machine Learning, Agent-Based Modeling (ABM), Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning, Signal Processing, Advanced Sensing Technologies for Civil Infrastructure Systems, Non-Destructive Testing and Evaluation (NDT/E).
Hobbies
📷 I love to take nature pictures and videos with my camera setups, smartphone, and drones. I also create short drone video clips and share them on my youtube channel time to time.
⛰️ I also love any outdoor activities, camping, hiking, kayaking, and snowboarding, and often visit different national parks as much as I can.
📘 I have a deep interest in history, archeology, and world politics, and in my free time, I read books/articles from various sources about them.