Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering (starting Fall 2021)
Education
- 2017, Doctoral Degree, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California - Berkeley
- 2013, Master's Degree, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California - Berkeley
- 2012, Bachelor's Degree, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California - Davis
Biography
Dr. Nweke is currently an Assistant Professor in the Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering. He earned his B.S degree from the University of California, Davis, and his M.S and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. After graduate school, he was an NSF AGEP California Alliance Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles, and prior to joining USC, he was practicing engineering consultant.
Research Summary
Dr. Nweke's broad research interest involves modeling geo-materials and site-specific/region-specific hazard (seismic). His research focuses on applying components of data analytics (statistical analysis, machine learning, database management, and more) to solve problems at the intersection of geotechnical engineering, earthquake engineering, seismology, geomorphology, and other natural hazards. This includes characterizing sedimentary basin effects in earthquake ground motions, assessing and evaluating physics-based earthquake simulations, and investigating the dynamic mechanical behavior of bio-cemented soils. Additional interests include 1) earthquake ground motion spatial variability on the performance of lifeline infrastructure systems, 2) novel data acquisition methods for hazard reconnaissance (Structure-from-Motion, Lidar, Synthetic Aperture Radar-based maps), and 3) Cloud-based data management and computation for hazard analysis, preparation, and post-assessment.
