Faculty
Burcin Becerik-Gerber
Dr. Becerik-Gerber is a Professor and Chair of the Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Southern California. Dr. Becerik-Gerber’s research focuses on the design, automation, control and visualization of user-centered responsive and adaptive built environments. To date, she has authored around 150 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers. Her work has received support worth over $10m individual and collaborative grants from a variety of agencies, including the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy and Department of Transportation.
In 2012, MIT’s Technology Review has named her as one of the world’s top young innovators under the age of 35. The same year, she has been appointed as the inaugural holder of the Stephen Schrank Early Career Chair in Civil and Environmental Engineering. She has been selected to take part in the National Academy of Engineering's Frontiers of Engineering Education Symposium in 2011 and Frontiers in Engineering Symposium in 2013 for her innovative research and educational approaches in civil engineering. She received the NSF CAREER Award in 2014, Viterbi Junior Research Award in 2016, Mellon Mentoring Award in 2017 and CETI (Celebration of Engineering & Technology) Award in 2018. She is one of the ten Rutherford Visiting Fellows of Alan Turing Institute, U.K. She was inducted to National Academy of Construction in 2021. She serves as an Associate Editor for ASCE’s Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering since 2011.
Dr. Becerik-Gerber holds degrees in both Civil and Environmental Engineering and Architecture. She graduated from Istanbul Technical University with a Bachelor of Architecture (1999) and an M.S. in Architecture (2001). She attended the University of California at Berkeley, where she received an M.S. in Engineering degree (2002) with a special focus on Construction Engineering and Management. She earned her Doctor of Design degree (2006) from Harvard University. Her doctoral work at Harvard University focused on online collaboration and project management. Upon completing her doctoral degree, she worked as a consultant and taught in the area. Her responsibilities included development of corporate-wide program management information systems for large and complex construction projects. In 2008, she joined the Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Email: becerik@usc.edu
Lucio Soibelman
Dr. Lucio Soibelman is a Professor at the Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Southern California. He also serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Advanced Engineering Informatics and as co-chief editor for the ASCE Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering. Dr. Soibelman’s research focuses on use of information technology for economic development, information technology support for construction management, process integration during the development of large-scale engineering systems, information logistics, artificial intelligence, data mining, knowledge discovery, image reasoning, text mining, machine learning, multi-reasoning mechanisms, sensors, sensor networks, and advanced infrastructure systems.
Dr. Soibelman joined USC in 2012 after more than seven years as professor of civil and environmental engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. His academic career began six years previously at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he became associate professor. He earned his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering Systems (1998) from Massachusetts Institute of Technology after 10 years of experience in private industry in his native Brazil.
During the last 12 years Dr. Soibelman published over 100 books, books chapters, journal papers, conference articles, and reports and performed research with funding from NSF, NASA, DOE, US Army, NIST, IBM, Bosch, IDOT, RedZone Robotics among many other funding agencies. Dr. Soibelman received the NSF CAREER Award in 2001, the 2010 ASCE Computing in Civil Engineering Award and the FIATECH Outstanding Researcher Celebration of Engineering & Technology Innovation, or CETI, Award. During the last 2 years he has been collaborating with ADEPT to provide consulting services on BIM implementation to several large construction companies in Brazil.
Email: soibelman@usc.edu
Current Researchers
Current Researchers
Patrick Rodrigues
Patrick Rodrigues is a Ph.D. student co-supervised by Dr. Burcin Becerik-Gerber and Dr. Lucio Soibelman. He earned his bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from the State University of Santa Cruz, in Brazil, and his Master's degree in Construction Management from the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Patrick joined USC in the Fall 2020 to pursue his PhD in Civil Engineering with emphasis in Human-Building Interaction and Building Information Modeling. Patrick enjoys reading, watching soccer games, and traveling.
Degree Pursued: PhD in Civil Engineering
Email: borgesro@usc.edu
Research Interests: Human-Robot Interaction, Building Information Modeling, Human-Building Interaction
Ruying Liu
Ruying is a Ph.D. student supervised by Dr. Burcin Becerik-Gerber. She earned her bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Edinburgh and Master’s degree in Structural Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. She worked as a structural designer at Rutherford Chekene before joining the Sonny Astani Civil and Environmental Engineering to pursue her PhD degree. Ruying loves reading and calligraphy.
Degree Pursued: PhD in Civil Engineering
Email: ruyingli@usc.edu
Research Interests: Smart & Autonomous Built Environments, Human-Building Interaction
Mirmahdi Seyedrazaei
Mirmahdi works under the supervision of Dr. Becerik-Gerber. He earned his BS and MS. degrees in Civil Engineering from the Sharif University of Technology in 2016 and 2018, respectively. He is passionate about adapting multidisciplinary and holistic approaches in built environments to contribute to better living conditions for humankind. Mirmahdi is interested in traveling, humanitarian activism, reading books, and playing sports.
Degree Pursued: PhD in Civil Engineering
Email: seyedrez@usc.edu
Research Interests: Human-building interactions, Social justice in the built environment
Antonin Brun
Antonin is a PhD student who works under the supervision of Dr. Burçin Becerik-Gerber. He earned his bachelor degree in Bioresource Engineering from McGill University (2020) and a Master’s in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Stanford University (2023). He joined USC in Fall 2023 to pursue his PhD in Civil Engineering. Antonin is passionate about wellbeing in the built environment, building energy efficiency, and intelligent occupant-centred design. As an avid surfer, Antonin loves to spend his free time riding waves. He also enjoys cooking, travelling and playing volleyball.
Degree Pursued: PhD in Civil Engineering
Email: abrun@usc.edu
Research Interests: Human-Building Interaction, Interactive Design, Innovative Technology Adoption, Building Energy Efficiency
Tao Zang
Tao Zang is a PhD student supervised by Dr. Burcin Becerik-Gerber. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering at the University of Illinois (2021), and a Master’s in Civil Engineering from University of California, Berkeley (2022). After graduation, he worked as a practicing structural engineer for two years at SOM. He is passionate about intelligent built environment, human-building interaction, and construction automation. During free time, he enjoys hiking, table tennis, biking, and watching movies.
Degree Pursued: PhD in Civil Engineering
Email: taozang@usc.edu
Research Interests: Human-building interaction, Computer vision
Mireya Reyes
Mireya Reyes is a PhD student supervised by Dr. Burçin Becerik-Gerber. She earned her bachelor's degree in Engineering, with a Civil and Environmental Engineering concentration from Wake Forest University (2024). She joined USC to pursue her PhD in Civil Engineering. Mireya loves practicing yoga, hiking, singing, and spending time with her pet rabbit.
Degree Pursued: PhD in Civil Engineering
Email: mireyare@usc.edu
Research Interests: Human-Building Interaction, Social Justice, Inclusive Design
Zicheng Han
Zicheng is a Ph.D. student supervised by Dr. Burcin Becerik-Gerber. He earned his bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from Tongji University in China, and his dual master's degree focused on Information Technology in Civil Engineering from Tongji University and Nagoya Institute of Technology in Japan. He joined USC in the Fall of 2024 to pursue his Ph.D. in the field of Civil Engineering. Zicheng enjoys playing the guitar, playing table tennis and traveling in his spare time.
Degree Pursued: PhD in Civil Engineering
Email: hanziche@usc.edu
Research Interests: Human-Building Interactions, Building Information Modeling, Computer Vision, Deep Learning
Sepehr Saeidi
Sepehr Saeidi is a PhD student working under the supervision of Dr. Burcin Becerik-Gerber. He earned his BS and MS. degrees in Civil Engineering from the Sharif University of Technology in 2021 and 2024, respectively. Sepehr joined USC in the Fall of 2024 to pursue his PhD in Civil Engineering with an emphasis on Human-Building Interaction. Sepehr enjoys hiking, watching movies with his friends, and playing volleyball.
Degree Pursued: PhD in Civil Engineering
Email: sepehrsa@usc.edu
Research Interests: Human-Building Interaction, Smart & Autonomous Built Environments, Data Mining