News

4. Looking for a highly motivated graduate student (Updated on 08/12/2019)

Dr. Choi is looking for PhD students who can join the group in either 2020 Spring and Fall.

An ideal candidate should have a MS degree in Civil Engineering, Architectural Engineering, Construction Engineering and Management or a relevant field and have interest and background in at least one of the following areas:

- Infrastructure or building demolition planning;

- Operational simulation analysis (e.g., system dynamics, agent based model, and discrete event simulation)

- Infrastructure planning in the context of disaster risk reduction and sustainability;

- Recycling/reuse of disaster materials;

- Data mining and econometrics in infrastructure planning or disaster mitigation planning; and

- Environmental impact analysis and life-cycle cost analysis.

Strong programming background and research experience are preferred. This position will include a stipend, tuition, and health insurance benefits.

The interested candidates need to apply for the PhD in Civil & Environmental Engineering at either Florida State University or Florida A&M University depending on their preference (For the details, please refer to the website below).

https://www.eng.famu.fsu.edu/cee/graduate/admission-requirements

If interested, please send me your detailed CV and the statement of purpose at jchoi@eng.famu.fsu.edu.

3. Dr. Choi organized a NSF sponsored workshop on Post-Disaster Materials and Environmental Management (Posted on 08/12/2019)

In May 2019, Nazli Yesiller, Juyeong Choi, and Sybil Derrible organized a workshop on Post-Disaster Materials and Environmental Management in Alexandria (Virginia) that was sponsored by the Environmental Sustainability program at the National Science Foundation (award #1922539). The workshop had 36 participants from academia as well as from public and private organizations, including from the US EPA and FEMA; see the list of participants and a group photo in the final report.

For one and a half day, all participants worked hard to identify the main themes and research questions pertaining to post-disaster materials and environmental management. Four themes with overlapping research questions emerged from the discussion: (1) pre- and post-disaster debris characterization and inventory; (2) recycling/reuse planning and optimization; (3) technology development (for improving recycling/reuse, handling, and monitoring of disaster materials); and (4) business models and market development.

You can read more about the four themes, research questions, and recommendations directly from the final report available here.

2. Dr. Choi volunteered as a judge for the Swift Creek Science Foundation (Posted on 11/29/2018)

Dr. Choi volunteered as a judge for the Swift Creek Science Foundation at the Swift Creek Middle School in Tallahassee, Florida, on November 29, 2018. He interacted with the future generation of engineers and scientists while participating in the event. He looks forward to serving as a judge for the next year's science foundation.

1. Dr. Choi's research is highlighted in the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering (Posted on 11/26/2018)

Hurricane Michael destroyed houses and infrastructure throughout the Florida Panhandle. As a result, many people had to evacuate and stay in shelters, thus generating significant demand for shelter services. Meanwhile, shelters may experience disruption of utility services and storm-related debris/waste issues.

Hurricane shelters should have sufficient capacities in place to accommodate all segments of the population including those that are vulnerable (e.g., seniors, children and people with special needs); however, shelter administrators are often challenged in operating and managing their facilities due to the lack of infrastructure services and essential supplies. In such trying situations, other government agencies (i.e., state or federal government agencies in addition to local government agencies), NGOs, and other community volunteer groups play an important role in supporting operations of shelters. In this project, we termed such civic and social systems as secondary infrastructure and general service providers (e.g., municipal utility supplier, local agencies) as primary infrastructure. We aim to collect data on how such secondary infrastructure in addition to primary infrastructure helps shelters meet the diverse needs of evacuees (e.g., seniors, children and people with special needs) as well as operate and manage their facilities. For more details, please click here.