Civil and Environmental Engineering

Contact Information

Office:
Kaven Hall, 213
Phone: +1-508-831-6565
pokumus@wpi.edu

Pinar Okumus

• Assistant Teaching Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering

Dr. Okumus’ research in the area of structural engineering focuses mainly on the highway bridge structures, reinforced concrete and prestressed concrete structures. Observing the need for an improved infrastructure system, Dr. Okumus is interested in research in the area of high performance and durable prestressed concrete bridge components and connections, bridge rehabilitation and bridge health monitoring. She is interested in the use of advanced materials including fiber reinforced polymers for bridge structural retrofitting. She uses nonlinear finite element analysis frequently as a tool to analyze nonlinear concrete behavior including cracking to assess the condition of structural bridge members. Her experimental work included traditional strain monitoring techniques for reinforced concrete structures, as well as digital image correlation systems. She is also interested in promoting accelerated bridge construction methods using prestressed concrete systems.

Her current and past teaching areas include undergraduate and graduate level courses on highway bridge design, reinforced concrete design, prestressed concrete design, structural analysis, matrix analysis of structures, and building information modeling. She enjoys sharing her expertise in these various areas with students, recognizing the great role today’s students will take in shaping our society as future engineers.