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Student Spotlight: Yufeng Hu

• Yufeng Hu on Waikiki beach in Hawaii during the 2004 ANCER Annual Meeting, where he presented a paper on his MCEER research

Yufeng Hu is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering at the University at Buffalo. Supervised by Gary Dargush, Yufeng is working on using genetic algorithms to develop computational tools for hospital administrators’ decision making (see article). His research project is entitled “Complex Adaptive Systems Approach for Seismic Resilience Design.”

Yufeng did his undergraduate work at Shanghai Tiedao University in China and came to UB after studying and working in civil engineering for ten years. He says he didn’t specifically choose earthquake engineering, but became interested because the department is academically strong in the specialty. He enjoys his research because “it makes me understand that seismic engineering is really multidisciplinary. It is challenging and fun to model both engineering and socio-economic systems within the context of a critical care facility.”

Expecting to complete his studies at the end of the year, Yufeng plans to remain in the US, and wants to work in structural design or construction. He believes that “the understanding of earthquake engineering from a multidisciplinary point of view” that his research provides will help him to “develop some new concepts of structural design or construction in terms of seismic engineering” in his future career.

Since he came to the US, Yufeng has become an avid football fan. He also likes playing volleyball and badminton, watching movies and reading, especially the Bible.