Chenzhi Ma, Ph.D.
I am a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. Before joining UNL in August 2026, I was a Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of Nevada, Reno, working on wildland–urban interface (WUI) fire risk analysis and fire spread modeling.
I received my Ph.D. in Civil and Systems Engineering (Structural Engineering) from Johns Hopkins University in September 2025, advised by Prof. Thomas Gernay. My dissertation — “Advancing performance-based fire design through material behavior, structural modeling, and lifetime economic assessment” — developed integrated computational and economic frameworks for rational fire-safe structural design.
Prior to JHU, I earned an M.Eng. from Tongji University (2021) and a B.Eng. from Central South University (2018), both in structural engineering.
Research Interests
- Advanced thermal-mechanical finite element simulations
- Performance-based fire design and structural fragility assessment
- Material behavior under extreme conditions (fire, seismic)
- Lifetime economic and environmental impact assessment
- Wildland–urban interface (WUI) fire risk and spread modeling
- Structural resilience under multiple hazards
News
- [Aug 2026] Joined the University of Nebraska–Lincoln as Assistant Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering
- [Jun 2026] Invited as Guest Editor for Buildings special issue: Advanced Research on Structural Multi-Hazard Risk
- [Oct 2025] Started postdoctoral position at the University of Nevada, Reno
- [Sep 2025] Completed Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University
Selected Awards
- 2023 — Richard D. Hickman Fellowship, Johns Hopkins University
- 2021 — Outstanding Master Thesis Award, Tongji University
- 2018 — Outstanding Undergraduate Award, Central South University