Burcin Becerik-Gerber

Biography

Dr. Becerik-Gerber’s research focuses on the development of novel methods for the acquisition, modeling, and analysis of the data needed for cognitive (responsive and adaptive) built environments that can perceive, sense, reason and collaborate with their users, and support decision-making, problem solving, and management of resources. She develops methods for fusing multi dimensional data collected by several types of sensors, integrate and visualize these multi-dimensional data in interactive 3D environments, using a variety of tools including virtual and augmented reality, Building Information Modeling (BIM), and building performance simulations. Using these multi-dimensional data, she develops novel algorithms, frameworks and visualization techniques to improve built-environment resiliency, efficiency, sustainability, and maintainability while increasing user satisfaction. Her work focuses on human-in-the-loop cyber-physical-social systems that are centered around users (building occupants, students, patients, etc.), user objectives (e.g., increased comfort in buildings, effective learning in educational settings, improved safety and security in public buildings), as well as various performance objectives (reduced energy consumption, efficient delivery of projects, etc.).

Dr. Becerik-Gerber 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 Civil and Environmental Engineering (2002). She earned her Doctor of Design (2006) degree from Harvard University in the field of Project Management and Information Systems. After graduating from Harvard University, she worked as a consultant and taught in the area of information automation and management for three years. In 2008, she joined the Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Southern California. She has authored/co-authored over 120 peer-reviewed papers. Her work has received support worth around $5m from a variety of sources, including 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. 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. Since 2012, she serves as an Associate Editor for ASCE’s Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering. She is the recipient of NSF CAREER Award (2014), Viterbi Junior Researcher Award (2016), and Mellon Mentoring Award (2017). Currently, she serves as the Director of Graduate Programs of Astani Civil and Environmental Engineering Department.

She is currently the director of the Innovation in Integrated Informatics LAB, http://i-lab.usc.edu/. She is advising several Ph.D. students, three M.S. students and five undergraduate students in the “Informatics For Intelligent Built Environments” focus area (http://cee.usc.edu/admission/phd-programs/informatics-for-intelligent-built-environments.htm).