Burcu Akinci

About

Dr. Burcu Akinci is the William D. and Nancy W. Strecker Dean of the College of Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University and a full professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Her research focuses on climate-resilient environmental systems and technologies, sustainable energy and transportation systems, and intelligent engineered systems and society. She is involved in advancing engineering solutions that address environmental challenges and improve societal resilience through innovative research and leadership.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Mathematics
• Artificial Intelligence
• Transport engineering
• Environmental health
• Machine Learning
• Econometrics
• Engineering
• Statistics
• Algorithm

Selected publications

• Inferring the causal effect of work zones on crashes: Methodology and a case study

  Analytic Methods in Accident Research · 2021 · 25 citations

  The increasing number of crashes occurring in work zones has received considerable attention in recent years. Previous studies have mainly focused on associations between work zone configurations and crash occurrence. Although identification of associational relations helps us understand how work zones co-exist with crashes, it does not provide interventional guidelines necessary to improve safety of work zone operations. In this paper, a causal inference model based on the potential outcome fra…

  DOI

• Inferring heterogeneous treatment effects of work zones on crashes

  Accident Analysis & Prevention · 2022 · 21 citations

  The increasing number of work zone crashes has been a significant concern for road users, transportation agencies, and researchers. Crashes can be caused by work zones, and this effect changes across different work zone configurations, traffic volumes, roadway functional classifications, and weather conditions. This is typically represented by Crash Modification Functions (CMFunctions). However, current methods for developing work zone CMFunctions have two major limitations: (1) They focus on an…

  PublisherDOI

• Assessing the impact of 3D point neighborhood size selection on unsupervised spall classification with 3D bridge point clouds

  Advanced Engineering Informatics · 2022 · 21 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  The performance of point cloud-based defect classification algorithms depends on the quality of the computed geometric features, which in turn is strongly affected by the selection of the neighborhood size of local 3D points. Many existing algorithms select a single scene-specific value as the neighborhood size parameter and apply it uniformly to all 3D points while computing features. By doing so, some defect features end up being smoothened out at locations where the selected neighborhood size…

  DOI

• Panorama-to-model registration through integration of image retrieval and semantic reprojection

  Automation in Construction · 2022-05-30 · 18 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Registering images to a building information model is an effective approach of associating as-built component status to as-designed information. However, registering a single still image to a digital twin is difficult due to pose ambiguities caused by the limited field of view in images. Several recent studies have started focusing on leveraging panoramic images to address problems, such as partial occlusions, repetitive facility components and textureless views, which could cause registration f…

  PublisherDOI

• Digital Twin Technologies for Autonomous Environmental Control and Life Support Systems

  Journal of Aerospace Information Systems · 2024-01-08 · 14 citations

  articleSenior author

  Environmental control and life support systems will require enhanced self-awareness and self-sufficiency as human spaceflights are designed to reach further destinations. These requirements have led to the development of autonomous technologies and systems to enable more Earth independence, while at the same time relying more heavily on the knowledge contained in their computational models (as opposed to the knowledge of ground control experts). For environmental control and life support systems…

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• ITR/IM+AP Early Defect Detection and Management at Construction Sites Using Integrated Project Models, Laser Scanners and Embedded Sensor Systems

  NSF · $2.1M · 2001–2008

• CAREER: Development of an Integrated Framework for Capturing, Modeling and Visualizing the History of Construction Projects

  NSF · $407k · 2005–2011

• MRI: Acquisition of a High-Performance Laser Scanner for Research and Education in Civil Engineering, Architecture, Robotics and Computer Graphics

  NSF · $207k · 2004–2008

Frequent coauthors

• James H. Garrett

  Shell (United States)

  89 shared

• Mario Bergés

  Carnegie Mellon University

  55 shared

• Semiha Kiziltas

  45 shared

• Lúcio Soibelman

  University of Southern California

  43 shared

• Esin Ergen

  Istanbul Technical University

  41 shared

• Semiha Ergan

  San Diego State University

  28 shared

• Pingbo Tang

  Carnegie Mellon University

  27 shared

• Carl T. Haas

  26 shared

Education

• B.S., Civil Engineering

  Middle East Technical University

  1991

• Other

  Bilkent University

  1993

• M.S., Civil and Environmental Engineering

  Stanford University

  1995

• Ph.D., Civil and Environmental Engineering

  Stanford University

  2000

Awards & honors

• ASCE Distinguished Member

Similar researchers at Carnegie Mellon University

• Gregory Lowryh-116
• Hamish Gordonh-79
• Carmel Majidih-75