Name: Raul Rincon
Civil Engineering Ph.D. Student
Expected Graduation: 2025
PI/Advisor: Dr. Jamie Padgett
Hometown: Villavicencio, Meta, Colombia
1. Describe your research focus and/or current research project(s) you are working on.
I work with Dr. Jamie Ellen Padgett on smart and equitable techniques for measuring and modeling dynamic resilience on infrastructure systems. My work focuses on multi-scale systems (which are heterogenous, laden with uncertainties, and continuously evolving) exposed to progressive and shock-based stressors. Simultaneously, we propose and evaluate methods to determine bias across the levels of the resilience quantification pipeline, to ultimately advert possible inequitable decision-making.
2. Why did you choose this area of research?
Current and future cities face a rapid evolution of technology, unprecedented ways of collecting information, large computational capabilities, and constant evolution of stressors and conditions (e.g., changes in hazards, user needs, or policies); hence, we need to test how we model and quantify infrastructure resilience in such a dynamic context. I am interested in improving the science of measuring, comparing, and updating infrastructure systems performance to attain accurate, unbiased, and equitable estimates.
3. What would you like to pursue after graduation?
I aspire to become a faculty member, bringing together researchers, practitioners, and communities whose diverse backgrounds contribute to understanding disaster resilience in societies with different needs and challenges.
4. What advice or insights do you have for those just beginning their graduate career in CEE at Rice, or for those interested in the program?
Focus, study, join clubs, make friends, work hard, be patient, support others, learn, ask, but always enjoy. A PhD is a whole experience that deserves to be enjoyed.
5. What do you enjoy doing when you're not working on your degree?
I enjoy spending valuable time with my wife, family, and friends, playing with my dog, having a good cup of coffee, running and training, traveling, and watching documentaries and movies.
Thank you for allowing us to learn more about you, Raul! We’re so glad you are a part of the civil and environmental engineering community.
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