Furkan Lüleci

Furkan Lüleci

Science enthusiast, lifelong learner, and driven by the contribution to the advancement of society

Hello, I’m Furkan👋🏼

Briefly about me

👨🏻‍💻 I’m a PhD candidate in Civil - Structural - Engineering and a research assistant at Civil Infrastructure Technologies for Resiliency and Safety (CITRS) labs at the University of Central Florida (UCF). My PhD advisor is Professor F. Necati Catbas, who is Lockheed Martin St. Laurent Professor and the director of CITRS.

📖 My research explores novel and effective solutions to challenging problems in the operation and maintenance of civil engineering infrastructure systems by employing Generative Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, Robotics, and Agent-Based Modeling tools, 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 PhD, I was a teaching assistant for an undergraduate-level Engineering Statics course and also assisted in teaching and grading several graduate-level courses, such as Finite Element Analysis, Matrix Techniques in Numerical Analysis, and Dynamics of Structures at UCF.

👷 During my master’s and bachelor’s in Civil (Structural) Engineering, I had the opportunity to work in residential (skyscrapers) and infrastructure (bridge & airports) constructions as well as residential structural engineering design firms.

🌐 I’m also a member of 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, Advanced Sensing Technologies, Structural Reliability, Infrastructure and Community Disaster Resilience, Operational and Experimental Modal Analysis, Structural Dynamics, Sustainable Infrastructure Systems, Numerical Modeling and Analysis, System Diagnostics and Prognostics, Signal Processing, Non-Destructive Testing and Evaluation, Load Rating.

In multidisciplinary areas, my interests lie in the following areas:

Generative AI (Generative Adversarial Networks - GANs, Diffusion Models, Transformers), Domain Generalization, Transfer Learning, Multi-Modal Learning, Virtual Reality and other Immersive Visualization tools, Robotics (unmanned ground and aerial vehicles), Digital Twin, Agent-Based Modeling and Multi-Agent Systems.

Near Future Goals

  • Develop a multi-robot-based structural condition assessment system to support community and built environment resilience and enhance efficiency in the operation and maintenance of civil infrastructure systems.
  • Characterize and develop a Generative Artificial Intelligence-based methodology to generate possible sensor data of various types of infrastructure systems for different structural conditions to optimize the data collection efforts.

Lifetime Goals

  • Convert near-future goals into a practical business model to contribute to society for the betterment of our life quality.
  • Be a professor and become a great mentor for new generations.
  • Write a novel.
  • Maybe have a PhD in another field, like History or Archeology.
  • Open an art gallery showcasing the pictures/video clips I took over the years.

Hobbies & Interests

📷 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 instagram account and youtube channel.

⛰️ 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.