Doctoral Finishing Fellowship – Fall 2021 Recipient – Behnam Azmoon

I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Civil and Environmental Engineering department. I started my journey at Michigan Tech in the summer of 2018. I was fortunate to work with Dr. Zhen (Leo) Liu from the beginning of my Ph.D. He helped me navigate the world of higher education, taught me critical thinking and problem solving, and guided me during my time in LiuRG. I worked on a handful of projects during my Ph.D., but my dissertation is focused on automated landslide prediction and mapping via deep learning. My project introduces a new category of slope stability analysis methods based on the recent advancements in artificial intelligence. These new methods are time efficient, automated, and accurate. I am especially interested in bridging the gap between traditional engineering methods for analyzing complex geosystems and exploring new data-driven solutions for similar engineering applications. 

I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Zhen (Leo) Liu, for his support and guidance. I would also like the thank the Graduate Dean Awards Advisory Panel and the dean for awarding me the finishing fellowship. This award will allow me to focus my efforts on completing my dissertation document and preparing for my defense.