About me
Hey, there! My name is Li Ai. I am a Research Assistant Professor at the University of South Carolina. I am currently working at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Civil&Environmental Engineering, and the McNAIR Aerospace Center. I received my PhD from the University of South Carolina in 2021 under the supervision of Dr. Paul Ziehl. I received my Master from Stevens Institute of Technology in 2016 under the supervision of Dr. Marcus Rutner and Dr. Sohphia Hassiotis.
Research interests
My research interests include:
- Nondestructive testing (NDT)
- Structural health monitoring (SHM)
- Acoustic emission (AE)
- structure strengthening and rehabilitation
- Bridge load rating
- AI for science/engineering
- Cyber-physical systems
- Digital twins.
My recent works include:
- Digital twin for concrete bridges
- Cost-effective strengthening methods of bridge slab/girder
- AE source localization using deep learning
- Transfer learning framework combining finite element simulation and domain adaptation
- Real-time AE monitoring system for alkali-silicate reaction (ASR) damage in concrete
- AE monitoring method applied to stress corrosion cracking in nuclear spent fuel storage systems
- Low-velocity impact monitoring framework for urban air mobility
Recent News
- Dec, 2023. I am appointed as an early career editorial board member for the Structural Durability & Health Monitoring
- Dec, 2023. My paper entitled “Structural Health Monitoring of Stainless-Steel Nuclear Fuel Storage Canister Using Acoustic Emission” has been accepted for publication on Development in the Built Environment.
- Nov, 2023. I am appointed as an editorial board member for the Civil Engineering Journal (IF=4.1).
- Oct, 2023. I am appointed as an editorial board member for the International Journal of Engineering Sciences and Technologies.
- Oct, 2023. I am appointed as a young academic editor for the Journal of Traffic and Transportation Engineering (IF=7.9).
- May, 2023. I am appointed as a youth editorial board member for the Journal of Intelligent Construction
- Apr, 2023. I am appointed as an associate editor for the ASCE journal Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction (IF=1.9).
- Feb, 2023. My paper entitled “A Transfer Learning Approach for Acoustic Emission Localization on Steel Plate-like Structure Using Numerical Simulation and Unsupervised Domain Adaptation” has been accepted for publication on Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing.
- Feb, 2023. My paper entitled “Localizing Damage on Stainless Steel Structures Using Acoustic Emission Signals and Weighted Ensemble Regression-based Convolutional Neural Network” has been accepted for publication on Measurement.
- May, 2022. I won the paper competition at AEWG63 and received the Adrian Pollock Student Award.
- Feb, 2022. My paper entitled “Developing a Heterogeneous Ensemble Learning Framework to Evaluate Alkali-silica Reaction Damage in Concrete using Acoustic Emission Signals” has been accepted for publication on Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing.