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Countryside Road

WELCOME

Hello! Welcome to my website!

I am an assistant professor in geotechnical engineering at

Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.

I am currently hiring graduate students and postdocs to join my research group, please feel free to get in touch with me!

NL portrait_edited_edited.jpg

RESEARCH INTERESTS

  • Coastal Geotechnics in Changing Climates

  • Offshore Wind and Renewable Energy

  • Machine Learning in Geotechnics

  • Transportation Geotechnics

  • Reliability Analysis

  • Field Monitoring and Laboratory Investigations

  • In-house Computer Program Development

EXPERIENCE

Assistant Professor, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

09/2022 - Present

  • Duties: Establish research programs, assist the development of Civil Engineering program, teach courses, mentor students, and complete administrative assignments.

  • Research Projects:

    • Coastal Sand Dune Erosion and Restoration.

    • Aging in Levee Systems: Integrating Temporal Dynamics for Enhanced Resilience and Disaster Preparedness.

    • Applications of Physics-Informed Machine Learning Algorithms in Typical Geotechnical Engineering Problems.

    • Resilience of Coastal Pavements on Problematic Soils in Changing Climates.

    • Development of Probabilistic Design Approaches for Column-Supported Geosynthetic-Reinforced Embankments.

  • Teaching:

    • Geotechnical Engineering I

    • Transportation Engineering

    • Geomatics and Surveying Engineering

Research Associate, Louisiana Transportation Research Center

08/2019 - 08/2022

  • Duties: Manage multiple research projects in transportation geotechnics as a co-Principal Investigator; Develop research proposals and manage field and laboratory testing; Co-supervise and train graduate students.

  • Project 1: Instrumentation and modeling of geosynthetic load transfer platform performance.

    • Co-supervised one Ph.D. student.

    • Developed a monitoring system for field instrumentation and measurement.

    • Field monitoring, data processing, finite element modeling of load transfer platform.

  • Project 2: Development of a design methodology for geosynthetic-reinforced pavement using finite element numerical modeling.

    • Co-supervised one Ph.D. student.

    • Conducted finite element analysis of geosynthetic-reinforced pavement under cyclic loading and verify numerical models against laboratory and field test data.

    • Quantified geosynthetic reinforcement benefits in Mechanical-Empirical Pavement Design Guideline (MEPDG).

  • Project 3: Evaluation of embedded pile resistance on scour critical bridges (started in May 2022).

    • Developed research proposal.

    • Co-supervised one Ph.D. student.

Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Massachusetts Amherst

01/2018 - 08/2019

  • Project: Geospatial statistical modeling for efficiency and economy in offshore geotechnical site investigations and foundation design.

    • Conducted desk study of geologic conditions and geotechnical characteristics of the US East Coast.

    • Conducted statistical analysis of offshore geotechnical site investigation data.

    • Developed a probabilistic framework for efficient geotechnical site investigation and economical foundation design.

    • Developed a 3D statistical model to simulate boulder spatial distribution for risk analysis of pile installation.

Research Assistant, Queen's University

09/2013 - 09/2017

  • Project: Probabilistic analysis of unreinforced and reinforced soil structures using random finite element method.

    • Developed probabilistic deformation and stability analysis numerical tools for geosynthetic-reinforced soil structures (reinforced soil slopes, reinforced shallow foundations, and reinforced soil walls).

    • Quantified soil spatial variability effect on the performance and failure of geosynthetic-reinforced soil structures.

    • Simulated full-scale unreinforced and reinforced embankments loaded to failure using deterministic and random finite element method.

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND

Ph.D., Geotechnical Engineering, Queen’s University, Kingston ON, Canada, 2017.

M.Eng., Highway & Railway Engineering, South China University of Technology, China, 2013.

B.Eng., Civil Engineering, South China University of Technology, China, 2010.

RESEARCH FUNDING

  • Co-PI, 2024. Floating Offshore Wind Turbine Shared Anchor Solution Validations through Scaled Model Field Tests and Numerical Simulations, DOE, $932,194.

  • Co-PI, 2024. IUCRC Phase I Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi: Center for Growing Ocean Energy Technologies and the Blue Economy (GO Blue), NSF, $599,996.

  • Co-PI, 2024. Intelligent Early Warning Framework for Water Resource Safety Using Autonomous UAV Swarm, Texas Engineering Experimentation Station, $5,000.

  • PI, 2023. Aging in Levee Systems: Integrating Temporal Dynamics for Enhanced Resilience and Disaster Preparedness, Texas Comprehensive Research Fund, $18,000.

  • Co-PI, 2023. Assessing Coastal Resilience to Climate Change Focusing on Transportation Infrastructure, Texas Engineering Experimentation Station, $2,500.

  • Co-PI, 2022. Evaluation of embedded pile resistance on scour critical bridges, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development and FHWA. $383,004.

  • Co-PI, 2020. Internal friction angle of sands with high fines content, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development and FHWA, $146,690.

  • Co-PI, 2020. Development of a design methodology for geosynthetic-reinforced pavement using finite element numerical modeling,  Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development and FHWA, $311,302.

  • Co-PI, 2019. Instrumentation and modeling of geosynthetic load transfer platform performance, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development and FHWA, $300,331.

HONORS AND AWARDS

  • 2024 NSF NHERI RAPID Facility (UW Seattle) Workshop Travel Award 

  • 2024 SEAS Rising Tide Award, Recognition of Service Excellence

  • 2022Top Reviewer Award, Computers and Geotechnics

  • 2020 Top Reviewer Award, Computers and Geotechnics

  • GEORISK Most Cited Award 2020 (most cited paper between 2017 – 2021):

  • Queen’s Graduate Award (2013 – 2014, 2014 – 2015, 2015 – 2016, 2016 – 2017)

  • Queen’s International Tuition Award (2013 – 2014, 2014 – 2015, 2015 – 2016, 2016 – 2017)

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

  • Editorial Board, Computers and Geotechnics

  • Associate Committee Member, Society for Underwater Technology, Offshore Site Investigation and Geotechnics Committee, US (SUT-OGSI-US)

  • Committee Member, Risk Assessment and Management Committee of the Geo-Institute, ASCE

  • Member, Geotechnical Extreme Events Reconnaissance (Sponsored by the National Science Foundation)

  • Member, Nearshore Extreme Events Reconnaissance (NEER)

  • Affiliated Member, ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers)

  • Conference Volunteer:

    • FAID 2019 (France-America Innovation Day: International Workshop on Floating Offshore Wind Energy Technology).

    • International Partnering Forum 2019 (Business Network for Offshore Wind).

  • Reviewer Service:

    • Panelist, NSF (National Science Foundation)

    • Panelist, NCHRP (National Cooperative Highway Research Program)

    • Computers and Geotechnics

    • ASCE Journal of Geotechnical and GeoEnvironmental Engineering

    • ASCE International Journal of Geomechanics

    • ASCE Journal of Engineering Mechanics

    • Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering

    • Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering

    • Geosynthetics International

    • Geotextiles and Geomembranes

    • International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering

    • GeoCongress 2020 - 2024, ASCE

    • GeoAmerica 2020, 2024

    • Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering

    • Journal of GeoEngineering

CONTACT

6300 Ocean Dr. Unit 5739

ning.luo@tamucc.edu

3618253263

Thanks for submitting!

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