About

Robert Connor is the Jack and Kay Hockema Professor in Civil Engineering and the Director of CAI and S-BRITE at Purdue University's Lyles School of Civil and Construction Engineering. His role involves leading research and initiatives in civil engineering, with a focus on advancing the field through innovative projects and collaborations. As a distinguished faculty member, he contributes to the academic and research missions of the school, fostering advancements in civil engineering practices and education.

Research topics

• Computer Science
• Forensic engineering
• Medicine
• Engineering
• Artificial Intelligence
• Biology
• Psychology
• Virology
• Immunology
• Business
• Materials science
• Veterinary medicine
• Structural engineering
• Mathematics
• Mechanical engineering
• Environmental science
• Aeronautics
• Statistics
• Internal medicine
• Animal science

Selected publications

• Benchmarking Unmanned Aerial Systems-Assisted Inspection of Steel Bridges for Fatigue Cracks

  Transportation Research Record Journal of the Transportation Research Board · 2021 · 15 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Computer Science
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Computer Science

  Inspection agencies have been increasingly implementing unmanned aerial systems (UAS) for bridge inspections. Currently, UAS are typically used for long-range monitoring and surveillance tasks, but bridge managers are hopeful that they may be utilized for detailed inspection, such as condition assessments and the inspection of fracture critical members (FCMs) in the near future. As an assistive tool for visual inspections, the accuracy of UAS-assisted inspections is unknown. This study investigates the relationship between the characteristics of the individual inspectors and a set of performance metrics associated with UAS-assisted FCM inspections. Four bridge inspectors used a UAS to inspect a series of full-sized bridge specimens with known fatigue cracks. The inspection videos were later shared with 19 bridge inspectors for a desk review. The performance of each inspector was evaluated and compared with the results from 30 hands-on inspections of the same specimens. The results showed that an inspector’s past experience with UAS, licensure, and academic degree could have a significant influence on one or more of the three defined performance metrics. The comparison between the results of the UAS-assisted inspections and the hands-on inspections revealed that crack detection was comparable. However, the hands-on inspections were more accurate.

  DOI

• Human factors affecting visual inspection of fatigue cracking in steel bridges

  Structure and Infrastructure Engineering · 2020 · 19 citations

  • Computer Science
  • Statistics
  • Engineering

  In this study, the performance data from 30 inspectors evaluating 147 specimens with fatigue cracks in representative in-situ conditions were analysed to identify the role of human factors in bridge inspection. Two performance measures, the percentage of correct detections (detection rate) and the number of false calls, were considered. The variability in both performance measures was large, and only a small amount of the variance could be explained by individual characteristics or environmental conditions. Experience, training, temperature, and inspection duration were correlated with detection rate, while no single factor was correlated with false calls. A multivariate analysis found that the number of false calls could be best estimated considering an inspector’s employment sector and training, the maximum wind speed on the day of the inspection, and the use of a tape measure. Based on these results, recommendations for improved training methods, procedures, and equipment were developed.

  DOI

• The seroprevalence of brucellosis and molecular characterization of Brucella species circulating in the beef cattle herds in Albania

  PLoS ONE · 2020 · 25 citations

  • Veterinary medicine
  • Biology
  • Virology

  BACKGROUND: Brucellosis is a ubiquitous zoonotic disease globally. It is endemic among bovines, sheep, and goats in Albania. The national control and eradication programs for brucellosis has been applied on sheep and goat farms as well as large dairy cattle farms, i.e., those with more than ten milking cows. The current study aims at estimating the herd and average individual animal prevalence of brucellosis in the national beef cattle herds, the missing information that was essential to propose the most appropriate control measures for this sub-population. Rose Bengal Test (RBT), Fluorescence Polarization Assay (FPA), and Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) were used as serological tests and classical bacteriology for isolation. Results were also used to investigate the difference in sensitivity between the assays used. METHODOLOGY: In total, 655 animals from 38 beef cattle herds from six southern districts of Albania were sampled. Sera were tested using RBT, FPA, and ELISA. Fifteen positive cows and a bull from eight high-prevalence positive herds were slaughtered, and particular tissue samples were collected for bacteriology. RESULTS: The overall herd seroprevalence in the tested beef cattle population was 55%, while the overall average within-herd prevalence (including only positive herds) was 38.3%, 42.7%, and 45.6% determined by the RBT, ELISA, and FPA, respectively. FPA was used for the first time in the diagnosis of bovine brucellosis in Albania, and its sensitivity was higher than RBT and ELISA. Three B. abortus strains were identified, two from the supra-mammary lymph node of two cows and one from the epididymis of a seropositive bull. CONCLUSION: Brucellosis was highly prevalent in beef cattle in the southern part of Albania, and B. abortus was isolated from this subpopulation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first statistically based survey of bovine brucellosis in beef herds in Albania. Using the FPA in parallel with other serological tests improved overall diagnostic sensitivity. Test and slaughter policy is not a rational approach for the control of brucellosis in beef cattle in Albania, and vaccination is only applicable, including strict control of the movement of animals.

  DOI

Frequent coauthors

• John W. Fisher

  Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  34 shared

• Ryan J. Sherman

  Georgia Institute of Technology

  28 shared

• Ian C. Hodgson

  Lehigh University

  20 shared

• Duncan E. Paterson

  Technical University of Denmark

  18 shared

• Brian M. Kozy

  Michael Baker International (United States)

  18 shared

• Dennis R. Mertz

  17 shared

• Glenn Washer

  University of Missouri

  17 shared

• James C. Paulson

  Scripps Research Institute

  17 shared

Labs

• Lyles School of Civil and Construction EngineeringPI

Awards & honors

• Best Paper Award at the Fourth World Congress on Joint Seali…
• Robert J. Dexter Memorial Lecture Award (August 2005)
• Alberta Infrastructure and Alberta Transportation Innovation…
• Chi Epsilon Teaching Award (May 2009)
• Harold Munson Teaching Award (May 2009)

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