Koliou Research Group

Research Statement:

Dr. Koliou's research interests span the fields of structural dynamics and earthquake engineering, as well as multi-hazard performance-based design for risk-based system functionality and community resilience. Through these areas, her research focuses on developing resilient and sustainable structural systems and hazard-resistant communities accounting for economic and social aspects. Her ultimate goal is to contribute to the well-being of communities by developing novel resilient structural designs and systems against various natural hazards and formulating fundamental mathematical frameworks to assess risk-based system functionality and community resilience under multiple hazards. Her research philosophy involves analytical, computational and experimental investigations for the understanding of the response properties of complex structural systems and investigations of economic and social impacts of the performance of those systems on communities under various hazards. Pursuing her research philosophy, her work (completed and in progress) includes computational simulations both at the infrastructure- and community-level, and analytical models to evaluate the response of systems under various natural hazards on three main thrust areas: (i) Resilient Timber Structures under Multiple Hazards, (ii) Multi-Hazard Performance-Based Engineering in the Context of Risk-Based System Functionality and Community Resilience and (iii) Lifelines: Response, Strengthening and Reliability under Seismic Hazards Targeting Community Resilience.

Dr. Koliou's work also involves experimental testing of small- and large-scale structures. Given the interdisciplinary nature of my research work, she has collaborated with researchers from various disciplines including mechanical engineering, social sciences, and urban planning.


Ongoing Projects:

CAREER: An Integrated Experimental and Numerical Vulnerability Assessment of Aging Housing Infrastructure and Communities

PI: M. Koliou

Sponsor: US National Science Foundation

Project Period: 09/1/2022– 08/31/2027

CAS-Climate: Workshop on Moving Resilience Research to Action in the Gulf Region

PI: F. Leite (UT Austin); Co-PIs: M. Koliou (TAMU), M. Meyer (TAMU), K. Lieberknecht (UT Austin), E. Ozguven (FAMU-FSU)

Sponsor: US National Science Foundation

Project Period: 01/1/2022 – 12/31/2022

SRS RN: Sustainable Transportation Electrification for an Equitable and Resilient Society (STEERS)

Lead PI: T. Overbye (TAMU); Co-Is: D. Da Silva (TAMU), H. Prechel (PVAMU), J. Zietsman (TTI), K. Davis (TAMU), K. Shetye (TAMU), L. Xie (TAMU), M. Koliou (TAMU), M. Begovic (TAMU), T. Ramani (TTI)

Sponsor: US National Science Foundation

Project Period: 09/1/2021 – 08/31/2022

Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) Program in “Infrastructure Resilience in the Context of Advanced Construction Methods”

PI: P. Sideris (TAMU); co-PIs: M. Koliou (TAMU), A. Puppala (TAMU), L. Barroso (TAMU), Z. Grasley (TAMU), M.B. Hueste (TAMU)

Sponsor: US Department of Education

Project Period: 10/1/2021 – 09/31/2024

Focused CoPe: Fundamental research to inform holistic decision-making for historically underrepresented communities impacted by coastal hazards

PI: M. Koliou (TAMU); co-PIs: P. Sideris (TAMU), J. Kaihatu (TAMU), A. Puppala (TAMU), S. Yu (TAMU), M. Meyer (TAMU), J. Mehta (FSU), H. Wang (OSU), A. Gonzalez (OU), S. Nolan (LSU)

Sponsor: National Science Foundation

Project Period:: 8/15/2021 – 7/31/2026

Re-Examine Minimum Reinforcement Requirements for Shear Design

PI: P. Sideris; co-PIs: M. Koliou, S.G. Paal, S. Hurlebaus, A. Birely, M.B. Hueste

Sponsor: Texas Department of Transportation

Project Period:: 9/1/2021 – 8/31/2023

Center of Excellence for Risk-Based Community Resilience Planning

Lead PI: J.W. van de Lindt (Colorado State University);

TAMU PI: S. van Zandt; TAMU co-PIs: M. Koliou, M. Meyer, N. Rosenheim, W.G. Peacock

Sponsor: National Institute of Standards and Technology

Project Period:: 2/1/2020 – 1/31/2025

Safety of Slab Home Elevations in Harvey-Affected Communities: Research, Education, Training and Outreach

PI: N. Yazdani (University of Texas - Arlington); co-PI: M. Koliou (Texas A&M University)

Sponsor: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - Texas Sea Grant

Project Period: 2/01/2020 – 1/31/2022

Cooperative Research to Enable Mass Timber in Multi-Family Housing

PI: J.W. van de Lindt (Colorado State University); co-PI: M. Koliou (Texas A&M University)

Sponsor: US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

Project Period: 9/20/2019 – 9/20/2021

Designing for and Assessing Functional Recovery in Seismic Retrofit of Existing Concrete Buildings: A Framework

PI: A. B. Liel (University of Colorado - Boulder); co-PI: M. Koliou (Texas A&M University)

Sponsor: National Institute of Standards and Technology

Project Period: 8/1/2019 – 7/31/2022

EAGER: DREAM-B: Collaborative Research: Moldable and Wave Tunable Materials for Complex Freeform Structures

Lead Institution: Texas A&M University; Lead PI: H. Muliana; co-PI: M. Koliou;

PIs: Stefano Gonella (University of Minnesota), N. Kalantar (California College of the Arts)

Sponsor: National Science Foundation

Project Period: 6/1/2019 – 5/31/2021

Completed Projects:

Develop Risk-based Multi-objective Cross-asset Budget Planning and Allocation Framework for the City of Sugar Land Integrated Asset Management System (IAMS)

PI: I. Damnjanovic (Texas A&M University); co-PI: M. Koliou (Texas A&M University)

Sponsor: City of Sugar Land, TX

Project Period: 11/1/2019 – 4/30/2021

Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis For Sustainability & Resilience of Buildings Subjected to Earthquake & Wind

PI: M. Koliou (Texas A&M University - Civil Engineering); co-PIs: P. Sideris (Texas A&M University - Civil Engineering), W. Yan (Texas A&M University - Architecture)

Sponsor: Texas A&M President's Excellence fund for Triads in Transformation (T3)

Project Period: 1/1/2019 - 12/31/2020

RAPID/Collaborative Research: Japan-U.S. Collaboration on the Seismic Resilience of Wood-frame Building Systems

Lead PI: M. Koliou (Texas A&M University); PI: C. Pantelides (Univ. of Utah); co-PIs: S. Dashti (Univ. of Colorado - Boulder), K. Ryan (Univ. of Nevada - Reno)

Sponsor: National Science Foundation

Project Period: 5/15/2018 – 4/30/2020

Project website: https://nherirapidusjapan.engr.tamu.edu/

Residential Infrastructure: Understanding Performance and Enhancing Resilience of Coastal Housing Communities

PI: M. Koliou (Texas A&M University)

Sponsor: Enhance Scholarly and Creative Activities (PESCA) Grant Program - Texas A&M University

Project Period: 5/1/2018 – 4/30/2020

Damage Assessment of Residential Infrastructure Impacted by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma

PI: M. Koliou (Texas A&M University); co-PI: S. G. Paal (Texas A&M University)

Sponsor: National Association of Home Builders

Project Period: 8/1/2018 – 2/28/2019

RAPID - Long-term recovery assessment of infrastructure systems and communities following Hurricane Harvey: Case study for the city of Port Aransas

PI: M. Koliou (Texas A&M University); Senior Personnel: W.G. Peacock (Texas A&M University)

Sponsor: DOC-National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) / TAMU-Sea Grant

Project Period: 12/18/2017 – 12/17/2018

Full-Scale Testing of Cross-Laminated Timber Diaphragm In-Plane Shear and Development of a Design Guide for Practitioners


PI: W. Pang (Clemson University); co-PIs: P. Layton (Clemson University), D. Rammer (Forest Products Laboratory) and M. Koliou (Texas A&M University)

Sponsor: US Department of Agriculture

Project Period: 10/1/2017 – 9/30/2020