Education in Civil Engineering

2024.01 - Present  : Ph.D. candidaete, CEE (Civil and Environmental Engineering) @ UC Berkeley

2024.01 - 2025.05 : M.S., CEE @ UC Berkeley

2023.09 - 2023.12 : PhD. student, Civil Engineering @ NYU (Transferred to UC Berkeley)

Education in Earth Science

2013.08 - 2015.10 : Ph.D. Candidate (ABD), Geological Science with seismology major @ Yonsei University

2011.08 - 2013.08 : M.S., Geological Science with seismology major @ Yonsei University

2006.03 - 2011.08 : B.S., Earth System Sciences @ Yonsei University

Employment

2026.08 - 2026.12 : Graduate Student Instructor @ UC Berkeley (CE193: Engineering Risk Analysis)

2024.01 - Present : Graduate Student Researcher (GSR) @ UC Berkeley

2026.01 - 2026.05 : AI for CEE education GSR @ UC Berkeley

2024.08 - 2024.12 : Graduate Student Instructor @ UC Berkeley (CE294: Disaster Risk Analysis for Infrastructure System)

2017.05 - 2023.08 : Seismic Hazard Analyist @ Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. Ltd., - Central Research Institute (KHNP-CRI)

2015.10 - 2017.05 : Seismologist @ National Institute of Meteorological Sciences (NIMS)

PUBLICATIONS

Peer-reviewed papers

Houng, S.E., Ceferino, L. (2026). Scalable Scenario-based Regional Earthquake Risk Assessment via Gaussianized Ground-motion–damage Modeling and PPCA (accepted in Earthquake Engineering & Structural Dynamics 09/23/2026). [preprint] [code]

Houng, S.E., Ceferino, L., Abrahamson, N. (2026). Fast Propagation of Epistemic Uncertainty in Seismic Hazard via Adaptive Importance Sampling, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 116, 1709–1726  [link] [code]

Houng, S.E., Ceferino, L. (2025). Fast Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis through Adaptive Importance Sampling, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 115, 646-663 [link] [code]

Houng, S.E. (2018). Discrimination between natural earthquakes and explosions based on the azimuthal distribution of S/P amplitude ratios, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 108, 218-229. [link] [pdf]

Houng, S.E., Lee, J., and Hong, T.-K. (2016). Dynamic seismic response of a stable intraplate region to a megathrust earthquake, Tectonophysics 689, 67-78. [link] [pdf]

Hong, T.-K., Park, S., and Houng, S.E. (2016). Seismotectonic properties and zonation of the far-eastern Eurasian plate around the Korean Peninsula,  Pure and Applied Geophysics 173, 1175-1195. [link] [pdf]

Hong, T.-K., Lee, J., and Houng, S.E. (2015). Long-term evolution of intraplate seismicity in stress shadows after a megathrust, Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors 245, 59-70. [link] [pdf]

Hong, T.-K., Houng, S.E., and Jo, E. (2014). Temporal changes of medium properties during explosive volcanic eruption, Geophysical Research Letters 41, 1944-1950. [link] [pdf]

Houng, S.E., and Hong, T.-K. (2013). Probabilistic analysis of the Korean historical earthquake records, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 103, 2782-2796. [link] [pdf]

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Patents

[Pending] Houng, S., and Ceferino, L (2026). Computational framework for numerical probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA). WO2026006061A1.

[Granted] Houng, S., Park, D., and Kim, H.-S. (2020). Method for Automatically Discriminating Earthquake Vibratory Motion from Errorneous Signal Record at Seismic System of Nuclear Power Plant, KR 10-2587912.

EXPERIENCES

Scholarship and Fellowship

Graduate Student Researcher, UC Berkeley Jan. 2024 - Present

UC Berkeley CEE SEMM Fellowship May 2025 - Aug 2025

Graduate Student Instructor (CE193/293A Probability and Risk Analysis for Civil Engineers), UC Berkeley Fall 2026

Graduate Student Instructor (CE294 Disaster Risk Analysis), UC Berkeley Fall 2024

SOE (School of Engineering) Fellowship, New York University Sep. 2023 - Dec. 2023

Brain Korea 21 plus Scholarship, Yonsei University Sep. 2013 - Aug. 2015

Energy & Mineral Resources Development Association, Yonsei University Mar. 2013

Korea National Oil Corporation Scholarship, Yonsei University Aug. 2011

Brain Korea 21 Scholarship , Yonsei University Sep. 2011 - Aug. 2013

National Science & Technology Scholarship , Yonsei University Fall 2010

Invited Talks and Seminars

Scalable Scenario-based Earthquake Risk Modeling via Linearized Ground-Motion--Fragility Coupling and Probabilistic PCA, NHERI GSC RSR meeting (Feb. 2026)

Adaptive Importance Sampling (AIS) based PSHA computational framework, KHNP-CRI (Jul. 2025)

PSHA: Theory, Practice, and Numerical Computation, KIGAM (Apr. 2025)

Current State-of-the-Art PSHA for Korea's NPPs, KAERI (Jul. 8. 2020)

Synthesis of Strong Ground Motion using Empirical Green's Function , Korea Instite of Nuclear Safety (2018)

Synthesis of Strong Ground Motion using Empirical Green's Function , Korean Earthquake Research Center, Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (Feb., 2018)

Review Activities

*Earthquake Spectra, Scientific Reports, Pure and Applied Geophysics, Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment, Geosciences Journal, International Journal of Data Science and Analytics

Contact

shoung [at] berkeley.edu