News

2025

2024

  • [Paper] December 25, 2024: Ph.D. student Yizhou Lin together with researchers from North Dakota State University published a journal paper "Experimental and Numerical Investigations of Carbon-based Nanoparticle Reinforcement on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Epoxy Coatings" in the Chinese Journal of Polymer Science (IF: 4.1), from the research project All-in-One Multifunctional Cured-In-Place Structural Liner for Rehabilitating of Aging Cast Iron Pipelines funded by the USDOT - PHMSA program. 

  • [Invited Talk] December 11, 2024: Dr. Tao gave an invited talk "Computer-Aided Sustainable Cement Manufacturing and Materials: Modeling, Virtual Design and Optimization" at the American Ceramic Society (ACerS) Cements Division Rising Star Webinar Series. [Video]

  • [New Member] December 11, 2024: Welcome postdoctoral researcher Dr. Wenyuan Chen to join the SIMU Lab!

  • [Grant] November 25, 2024: Dr. Tao (PI) received a grant from the USDOT - Transportation Infrastructure Precast Innovation Center (TRANS-IPIC) on the Year 2 project "Multi-objective Optimization of Reinforced Precast Concrete for Improved Performance".  

  • [Workshop] November 22, 2024: Dr. Tao gave a flash talk at the Joint Notre Dame – Purdue Great Lakes Workshop: Climate Change in the Great Lakes Basin, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN.

  • [Workshop] November 19: Dr. Tao attended the DOE National Labs Day at Purdue University.

  • [Student] November 12: Congratulations on Ph.D. student Junyi Duan's Ph.D. candidacy after passing the preliminary exam and proposal defense. 

  • [Conference] November 3-6, 2024: Dr. Tao attended the American Concrete Institute (ACI) Convention in Philadelphia, PA. 

  • [Conference] October 27-31, 2024: Dr. Tao attended the 2024 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Annual Meeting in San Diego, CA.

  • [Research] October 8, 2024: The SIMU Lab went to the Lake Michigan area to collect Great Lakes dredged sludge used in cementitious composites. The research is funded by the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) Graduate Student Scholars Program. [Polytechnic News][IISG-Meet Our Graduate Scholars]

  • [Webinar] September 23, 2024: Dr. Tao and Ph.D. student Junyi Duan gave a presentation "Data-driven smart composite reinforcement for precast concrete” at the Transportation Infrastructure Precase Innovation Center (TRANS-IPIC) Monthly Research Webinar.

  • [Research] September 23, 2024: Dr. Tao and Dr. Guan's research groups developed smart composite reinforcement in concrete beams and conducted flexural tests for the research project "Data-driven smart composite reinforcement for precast concrete" supported by USDOT TRANS-IPIC. 

  • [New Member] August 11, 2024: Welcome Ph.D. students Xiaoli, Rongze, Jiannan, and Sike to join the SIMU Lab!

  • [Engagement] August 1-15, 2024, Dr. Tao was invited by Prof.  Silvana De Nardin and visited the Department of Civil Engineering at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) - Brazil as a visiting professor, teaching a graduate course "Artificial Intelligence Applications in Sustainable Cement and Concrete Materials and Manufacturing", collaborating research with faculty and students at UFSCar and University of São Paulo, and introducing the opportunities at Purdue University to PhD, Master’s, and undergraduate students. Dr. Tao also gave a seminar "Computer-Aided Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure Systems: Modeling, Virtual Design and Optimization" at the graduate student workshop on August 14, 2024. 

  • [Grant] July 2, 2024, Dr. Tao (PI) received a grant from the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) - Joint Transportation Research Program (JTRP) on the project "SPR-4940 Implementing An Advanced Friction Testing Program for Seamless Coverage of INDOT System", 07/2024 - 06/2025. [News]

  • [Grant] July 2, 2024, Dr. Tao (Co-PI) received a grant from the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) - Joint Transportation Research Program (JTRP) on the project "SPR-4937 Enhanced Traffic Pattern Knowledge Abstraction and Presentation from 511 Database", PI: Dr. Yaobin Chen, 08/2024 - 11/2025. [News]

  • [Grant][Award] June 10, 2024, Dr. Tao (PI) together with the incoming PhD student Xiaoli Xiong received a grant from the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant - Graduate Student Scholars program on the project "The Utilization of Great Lakes Dredged Sludge in Cementitious Composites: Investigation and Assessment", 06/2024 - 06/2025.

  • [Project Meeting] May 29, 2024, Dr. Tao attended the USDOT-PHMSA CAAP project site visit at North Dakota State University and presented the project progress to the PHMSA project director on behalf of Purdue's team, Fargo, ND.

  • [Conference] May 28-31, 2024, SIMU lab gave two presentations at the ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute (EMI) Conference, Chicago, IL.

  • [Service] May, 2024, Dr. Tao served as Connects Ambassador for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) - Gulf Research Program (GRP) as the NASEM-GRP fellow.

  • [Award] May 1, 2024, Congratulations on the incoming Ph.D. student Xiaoli Xiong on receiving the Ross Fellowship! Xiaoli will join the SIMU Lab in August 2024. 

  • [Award] April 26, 2024, Dr. Tao received the college's Outstanding Faculty in Discovery Award, Purdue Polytechnic Institute, Purdue University. [News]

  • [Workshop] April 22, 2024: Dr. Tao and Ph.D. students Yizhou Lin and Huaixiao Yan gave a poster presentation on the Transportation Infrastructure Precast Innovation Center (TRANS-IPIC) funded project "Data-Driven Smart Composite Reinforcement for Precast Concrete" at the TRANS-IPIC UTC workshop, Rosemont, IL. [Link]

  • [Student Competition] April 18, 2024: Congratulations Ph.D. students Yizhou Lin and Junyi Duan winning 1st and 2nd places at the Polytechnic Research Impact Areas Student Poster Symposium, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN. The research is funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation - Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) - Pipeline Safety Research Competitive Academic Agreement Program (CAAP) and the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG). [News]

  • [Paper] March 26, 2024: Dr. Tao and Dr. Massoudi's paper "On the Flow of a Cement Suspension: The Effects of Nano-Silica and Fly Ash Particles" was published on Materials. The research was funded by the NSF I-Corps program and the ACI - Concrete Research Council (CRC) program.   

  • [Conference] March 21-22, 2024: SIMU Lab presented four conference papers at the ASCE Construction Institute (CI) & Construction Research Congress (CRC) Joint Conference, Des Moines, IA.

  • [Project Meeting] February 27, 2024: Ph.D. students Junyi Duan and Yizhou Lin, as the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) Grad Student Scholars 2023-24, presented their IISG-funded research projects "Improving Infrastructure Flood Resilience of the Southern Lake Michigan Region with Fluid-Structure Interaction Model" & "Recycling Bottom Sediments from Great Lakes in Sustainable Construction Materials" at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), Urbana, IL. [Junyi's presentation] [Yizhou's presentation]

  • [Invited Talk] February 26, 2024: Dr. Tao gave a lightning talk on "Computational Investigation and Risk Assessment of the Flood Impact on Infrastructure in the Great Lakes Region" at the Purdue Institute for a Sustainable Future - risk and resilience research community.

  • [Broadcast] February 22, 2024: Dr. Tao's research on flood resilience supported by the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) has been broadcast on the IISG website. [News]

  • [Conference] February 19-22, 2024: Dr. Tao attended the Gulf of Mexico Conference (GOMCON 2024), supported by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine - Gulf Research Program (GRP). 

  • [Broadcast] February 6, 2024: Ph.D. student Junyi Duan's story as the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) Graduate Scholar is published on the IISG website: IISG-Meet Our Graduate Scholars!

  • [Grant][Award]​ January 30, Dr. Tao was selected as the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine - Gulf Research Program (GRP) - Early-Career Research Fellow in the Offshore Energy Safety track. [NASEM News][Polytechnic News]

  • [Invited Talk] January 23, 2024: Ph.D. student Junyi Duan as the featured speaker gave an invited talk on “Computational Investigation and Risk Assessment of the Flood Impact on Infrastructure in the Great Lakes Region” at the Great Lakes Science Initiative Seminar, Purdue University.

  • [Broadcast] January 9, 2024: Ph.D. student Yizhou Lin's story as the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) Graduate Scholar is published on the IISG website: IISG-Meet Our Graduate Scholars!

  • [Award][Conference] January 9, 2024: Ph.D. candidate Cheng Peng at SCMT received the 2024 Young Scholar Award at the 103rd Transportation Research Board (TRB) Annual Meeting for her paper "Investigation of Locked Wheel Skid Tester Practicability on Horizontal Curves: A Camera-based Field Implementation" co-authored with Prof. Chengcheng Tao, Prof. Yi Jiang and Dr. Shuo Li. [News]

  • [New Member] January 3, 2024: Welcome Ph.D. student Huaixiao Yan to join the SIMU Lab!

2023

  • [Paper] December 1, 2023: Dr. Huang, Dr. Wang, and Dr. Tao's paper "Synergistic effects of nanoparticle geometric shape and post curing on carbon-based nanoparticle reinforced epoxy coatings: Characterization, microstructure, and adhesion properties" was published on Progress in Organic Coatings. The research was funded by the USDOT PHMSA grant.

  • [Grant] November 20, 2023: Dr. Tao (PI) received a grant from the USDOT - Transportation Infrastructure Precast Innovation Center (TRANS-IPIC) on the project "Data-Driven Smart Composite Reinforcement for Precast Concrete". 

  • [Conference] November 16-18, 2023: SIMU Lab presented six conference papers at the ASCE Infrastructure Innovation & Adaptation for a Sustainable & Resilient World (INSPIRE) Conference, Arlington, VA.

  • [Conference] October 31-November 1, 2023: SIMU Lab together with the NDSU research team gave a poster presentation on the USDOT funded project "All-in-One Multifunctional Cured-In-Place Structural Liner for Rehabilitating of Aging Cast Iron Pipelines" at the Pipeline Safety Research and Development Forum 2023, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), U.S. Department of Transportation, Arlington, VA.

  • [Conference] October 29-31, 2023: Dr. Tao attended the American Concrete Institute (ACI) Concrete Convention in Boston and presented research ideas to Baker Concrete. 

  • [Research Expo] October 25, 2023: Ph.D. student Junyi gave a poster presentation “Computational Investigation of the Flood Impact on Bridge Infrastructures in the Great Lakes Region” at the Institute for a Sustainable Future (ISF) 23-24 AY annual research expo [ISF travel awardee]; Undergraduate student Kah Soon Ngooi gave a poster presentation “Use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Models to Improve Sustainability of Concrete” at the Institute for a Sustainable Future (ISF) 23-24 AY annual research expo [ISF-DUIRI summer project].

  • October 11, 2023: Dr. Tao (PI) received a grant from the American Chemical American Chemical Society (ACS) - Petroleum Research Fund (PRF) - Doctoral New Investigator (DNI) Grants on the project "Computational and Experimental Investigation of Rheological Behavior of Oil-Water Multiphase Flow in the Long-Distance Pipe", 01/01/2024-08/31/2026.​ [News]

  • [Industry] October 9, 2023: SIMU Lab visited the concrete materials lab and concrete plant at Ozinga Ready Mix Concrete in Chicago. 

  • [Paper] August 16, 2023: Dr. Li and Dr. Tao's paper "Towards Human-Centered Pavement Quality Annotation with Crowdsourcing" was published on Procedia Computer Science. The research was funded by Purdue Polytechnic Holistic Safety and Security (HSS) Research Impact Area Seed Grant and Purdue Discovery Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Research Internship (DUIRI) program.

  • [New Member] August 14, 2023: Welcome Ph.D. student Yizhou Lin to join the SIMU Lab!

  • [Industry] August 8, 2023: Dr. Tao visited the concrete materials lab at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District. 

  • [Research Expo] July 27, 2023: Undergraduate student Kah Soon gave a poster presentation "Use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Models to Improve Sustainability of Concrete" for his summer ISF-DUIRI project at Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium. 

  • [Conference] June 25-28, 2023: Ph.D. students Junyi and Xiaoyue present three conference papers at ASCE International Conference on Computing in Civil Engineering, Corvallis, OR. 

  • [Workshop] June 9, 2023: Undergraduate student Kah Soon received travel support to attend an NSF-sponsored workshop on Eco-Revolutionizing Concrete Production for a west-free, net-zero future, Knoxville, TN.

  • [Conference] June 9, 2023: Six conference papers in SIMU Lab have been accepted by ASCE Infrastructure Innovation & Adaptation for a Sustainable & Resilient World (INSPIRE) conference, Arlington, VA, Nov 16-18, 2023. 

  • [Grant] May 4, 2023: Dr. Tao (PI) together with Dr. Tianyi Li received an internal seed grant from Purdue Polytechnic - Holistic Safety and Security (HSS) Research Impact Area on the project "Community Hazard Resilience through Data-driven Physics-based Crowdsourcing Approach". It is a collaborative project with Dr. Tianyi Li in the Department of Computer and Information Technology at Purdue University.

  • [Award] May 3, 2023: Dr. Tao received Outstanding Faculty in Discovery Award, School of Construction Management Technology, 2022-2023. [News]

  • [Invited Talk] May 3, 2023: Dr. Tao gave a talk at the 2023 Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) Retreat and Funded Researchers on the IISG-funded project "Improving Infrastructure Flood Resilience of the Southern Lake Michigan Region with Fluid-Structure Interaction Model", West Lafayette, IN. [Video]

  • [Conference] April 18, 2023: Three conference papers in SIMU Lab have been accepted by ASCE International Conference on Computing in Civil Engineering, Corvallis, Oregon, June 25 - 28, 2023. 

  • [Engagement] April 17, 2023: Dr. Tao becomes an associate member of the American Concrete Institute (ACI) Committee 135-Machine Learning-Informed Construction and Design, Committee 238-Workability of Fresh Concrete, and Committee 241-Nanotechnology of Concrete.

  • [Grant] April 11, 2023: Dr. Tao (PI) received a grant from the American Concrete Institute (ACI) - Concrete Research Council (CRC) on the project "Rheological Behavior of Fresh Ultra-High-Performance Concrete (UHPC) Enhanced by Nano-additives and Data-Driven Approaches". It is a collaborative project with Dr. Kamal Khayat at Missouri University of Science and Technology. [ACI News] [News]

  • [Grant] April 8, 2023: Congratulate Ph.D. students Yizhou Lin and Junyi Duan on winning the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) Graduate Student Scholars competition for two research projects "Recycling Bottom Sediments from Great Lakes in Sustainable Construction Materials" and "Data-Driven Modeling for Hazard-Resilient Infrastructure in Southern Lake Michigan Communities"! We will work with IISG to build stronger, more resilient, and sustainable coastal communities. 

  • [Conference] April 2-6, 2023: Dr. Tao, Xiaoyue Zhang (Ph.D. student), and Junyi Duan (Ph.D. student) attended the American Concrete Institute (ACI) Concrete Spring Convention, San Francisco, CA, April 2-6, 2023. The travel is supported by the NSF I-Corps grant.

  • [Award] April 5, 2023: Congratulate Ph.D. student Junyi Duan on winning 2nd place at the Purdue Polytechnic Institute (PPI) Research Impact Area (RIA) - Holistic Safety and Security (HSS) - Student Poster Symposium for his work “Numerical Analysis of Cured-in-place Pipe Structural Liner for Underground Pipeline Rehabilitation”, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, March 24, 2023. The research is funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation - Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) - Pipeline Safety Research Competitive Academic Agreement Program (CAAP).

  • [Grant] February 28, 2023: Dr. Tao's research project "Life Cycle Assessment of Sustainable Construction Materials" was funded by Purdue Discovery Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Research Internship (DUIRI) program and Institute for a Sustainable Future (ISF) for summer undergraduate research.

  • [Service] February 20, 2023: Dr. Tao worked as the Topic Editor for the journal Frontiers in Built Environment - Computational Methods in Structural Engineering section - Advances in Structural Resilience Modeling in Natural Hazard. The research topic is now open for submission! 

  • [Grant] February 13, 2023: Dr. Tao (PI) received a grant from NSF I-Corps program on the project "Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Assisted Sustainable Cement Manufacturing Technology", 02/2023 - 07/2023. We team up with Dietmar Grimm (industrial mentor), Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Sustainability Solutions at Trimble to facilitate the transformation of invention to impact.

  • [Workshop] February 7, 2023: Congratulate Ph.D. student Junyi on the NSF travel award to attend the NSF Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) facility workshop "New Trends in Real-Time Hybrid Simulations to Advance Fluid-Structure Interaction Research", Florida International University (FIU), Miami, FL, February 8-9, 2023.

2022

2021

  • [Award][Workshop] December 3, 2021: Dr. Tao received the NSF-NHERI travel award to attend the NSF Natural Hazards Engineering Research Infrastructure (NHERI) workshop at Florida International University (FIU), Miami, FL.

  • [Invited Talk] November 3, 2021: Dr. Tao gave a presentation "Computer-Aided Sustainable Construction Materials and Manufacturing: Modeling, Virtual Design and Optimization" at Dr. Luna Lu's group - Joe and Lisa Shetterley Innovation Lab, Lyles School of Civil Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN.

  • [Grant] October 27, 2021: Dr. Tao received a seed grant from Purdue Polytechnic - Holistic Safety and Security (HSS) Research Impact Area on the project "Crowd-Machine Partnership on Road Infrastructure Quality Recognition and Resilience".

  • [Research Expo] October 22, 2021: Dr. Tao gave a poster presentation "Increasing Sustainability of Infrastructure Systems" at Polytechnic Research Day, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN.

  • [Service] September 1, 2021: Dr. Tao worked as the Guest Editor for the journal MDPI Energies - Special Issue "Advances in Sustainable Infrastructure System". This special issue is now open for submission! CiteScore - Q1 (Control and Optimization), Indexed within Scopus, SCIE (Web of Science), Ei Compendex, RePEc, AGRIS, Inspec, CAPlus/SciFinder. 

  • August 11, 2021: Dr. Tao joined the School of Construction Management Technology at Purdue University as an assistant professor. 

  • [Engagement] June 29, 2021: Dr. Tao joined the Center for Intelligent Infrastructures (CII) at Purdue University.