Beginning August 2023, three tenure-track Assistant Professors will be coming on board the Civil Engineering Department. Abdullah Haroon is joining the Structural Engineering faculty group and will be teaching Prestressed Concrete (CE 4128/5128). Xingzhou Guo is teaching Project Management (CE 3025) and will also be working collaboratively with the Iron Range Graduate Engineering program in developing the Project Management Certificate program. Kun Zhang is joining the Water Resources / Environmental Engineering faculty group and will be teaching Fluid Mechanics (CE 3221).
Abdullah Haroon
Dr. Haroon received his PhD in Structural Engineering from the University of Cincinnati and an MS in Civil Engineering from the University of Toledo. He also holds a BS in Civil Engineering from Aligarh Muslim University, India.
Prior to joining UMD, Dr. Haroon worked as a Research Assistant at the University of Cincinnati Large Scale Testing Facility (UCLSTF) UCLSTF). His research is focused on large scale experimental testing of structures under various static and dynamic loading conditions coupled with analytical validations using finite element models. Particularly, he has experience in numerical analysis and experimental testing of precast bridge components and subassemblies under thermal and fatigue loads.
Dr. Haroon is also interested in health monitoring and preventive care for existing bridges. During his doctoral studies, he worked on several research projects funded by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) and Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT). His research resulted in modifications in AASHTO Bridge Design Specifications.
Xingzhou Guo
Xingzhou Guo, from Purdue University's School of Construction Management Technology, will be taking on a new role as an Assistant Professor in the department, focusing on Project Management, starting from August 2023.
During his time at Purdue, Dr. Guo's research interests have mainly revolved around sustainable design and construction of buildings and infrastructures, with particular focus on adopting emerging Artificial Intelligence techniques and human factors knowledge to improve worker’s health and safety in human-centric building and infrastructure networks. In his academic journey, he has worked as a research assistant and has contributed to acquiring research fundings from the National Science Foundation, Indiana Department of Transportation, and Local Technical Assistance Program. Moreover, he has also served as a graduate student instructor and has taught Construction Management courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Before he started his doctoral study at Purdue, Dr. Guo had worked in the field of virtual design and construction in Canada.
Kun Zhang
Kun Zhang is an accomplished water resources engineer, hydrologist, and modeler. He works with data and models to discover interesting physical phenomenon associated with climate and hydrology in natural and engineered water systems, and to explore efficient approaches to explain them and confront the associated challenges.
Before joining UMD, Dr. Zhang was an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Seattle University. He obtained his Ph.D. from The University of Hong Kong in Civil Engineering in 2020 and received further research training as a postdoctoral scholar at Marquette University.
When he isn’t sitting in front of a computer and/or by the water, Dr. Zhang loves spending time with his family, traveling to different places, learning different cultures, and having different types of food.