Michele Barbato, Ph.D., Joins Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty
Dr. Michele Barbato is a Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at the University of California, Davis. Before joining UCD in July 2018, he was an Associate Professor at Louisiana State University (LSU). He received his “Laurea” degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Rome “La Sapienza” (Rome, Italy) in 2002, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Structural Engineering in 2005 and 2007, respectively, at the University of California San Diego.
He is an expert in both traditional and innovative construction methodologies and materials, with particular emphasis on new recycled and green materials. He is very active in the development of performance-based methodologies in earthquake, wind, and hurricane engineering, as well as in multihazard applications. Dr. Barbato’s research embraces the following areas: (1) nonlinear finite element (FE) modeling and analysis of structural systems; (2) FE response sensitivity analysis coupled with numerical optimization methods; (3) performance-based engineering; (4) random vibration theory; (5) computational structural reliability analysis and probabilistic methods applied to civil engineering; (6) use of alternative/by-product/recycled materials for sustainable structural applications; (7) multihazard assessment and mitigation under current and changing climate conditions; and (8) life-cycle optimization of resilient/sustainable structures subject to multiple hazards.
He is the author or co-author of more than 140 technical publications, including 45 peer reviewed articles published in renowned archival journals, 3 book chapters, and many papers presented in national and international conferences. He has been the recipient of the prestigious 2009 ASCE Moisseiff award for the paper “Nonlinear Seismic Response Analysis of Steel-Concrete Composite Frames”. He was also awarded the EASD 2011 Junior Research Prize in the area of Development of Methodologies for Structural Dynamics by the European Association of Structural Dynamics (EASD), the Best Paper Award for Young Experts at the 12th International Symposium on Structural Engineering (ISSE-12), the 2012 TAF Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award by the LSU Tiger Athletic Foundation (TAF), the ASCE 2011 and 2012 Outstanding Reviewer Award for the ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering, the 2017 LSU College of Engineering Longwell Award for Instructor Excellence, and the 2018 AISC Advancing Structural Steel Education Award. His paper “Performance-Based Hurricane Engineering (PBHE) framework” has been recognized as one of the five most cited papers in the period January 2013-June 2016 among the papers published in Structural Safety (Elsevier).
He is a member of the Editorial Board of the ASCE-ASME Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems, Part A: Civil Engineering (ASCE-ASME), and of Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure (Taylor and Francis). He is an Associate Editor for the ASCE-ASME Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems, Part A: Civil Engineering and Part B: Mechanical Engineering. He is also the Editor for the Section on Earthquake Engineering and Structural Engineering in the Journal of Research on Engineering Structures and Materials (MIM Research Group) and a Trial Editor for Natural Hazards Review (ASCE). Dr. Barbato is a member of several national and international technical committees. Most notably, he currently is the Chair of the ASCE EMI Dynamics Committee, the Chair-elect of the ASCE SEI Multihazard Mitigation Committee, and the vice-Chair-elect of the ASCE SEI Performance Based Design of Structures Committee. He has also been active as an organizer of minisymposia and special sessions in national and international conferences, and as a guest editor of several special issues in peer-reviewed international journals. He has received more than $2M of competitive research funding and his research has been and is currently funded by the Louisiana Board of Regents, the Longwell Foundation, the LSU Council on Research, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, the LSU Coastal Sustainability Studio, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, and the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Welcome, Dr. Barbato!