Group

Principal Investigator

Ravi Kiran Yellavajjala

Dr. Ravi Kiran Yellavajjala is an associate professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and Built Environment at ASU and is the Principal Investigator (P.I.) for the DAMS lab. Prior to joining ASU, he was a faculty member at North Dakota State University and a postdoctoral researcher at Brown University. He received his Ph.D. in structural engineering from the University of Notre Dame under the guidance of Prof. Kapil Khandelwal in the year 2015. Among other awards, he received the 2024 ASME Rising Star in Mechanics, the 2022 AASHTO High-value research award, the 2021 NSF CAREER award, the 2014 O.H. Ammann structural engineering fellowship, and stood runner-up in the 2014 Computational Mechanics poster competition. Dr. Ravi’s research interests lie in the broad areas of damage mechanics and Artificial Intelligence with applications in civil and transportation infrastructure. He co-authored 65+ journal articles, presented his research at over 60 international conferences, and delivered 17 invited talks. He currently serves as a P.I. on several externally funded research projects. He is an ad hoc reviewer for over 40+ journals and has served as an invited reviewer for several funding agencies, including NSF, DoE, and USDA. He is an associate editor for the ASCE Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, an editorial board member for the Journal of Infrastructure Preservation and Resilience, and served as Guest Editor for a couple of special issues devoted to steel structures research (Advances in Structural Steel Research and Sustainable and Resilient Steel Structures). He is a member of the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), Association for Iron and Steel Technology (AIST), and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). He is the faculty co-adviser for the ASU ASCE student chapter and steel bridge team. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Minnesota (License # 57807).

Postdoctoral Researchers

Possible opening soon!

Graduate Students

B.S. in Civil engineering from West Bengal University of Technology and M.S. in structures from IIT Palakkad. Surajit joined DAMS lab in the Fall of 2021 as a Ph.D. student and is working on ultra-low cycle fatigue fracture in steel structures.

Muhammad Rafiul Mahdi

B.S. and M.S. in Civil Engineering from the Islamic University of Technology and the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, respectively. Rafiul joined the DAMS lab in the Spring of 2024 as a Ph.D. student and is working on sustainable and renewable construction materials.

Prince Aminu

B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Benin, Nigeria, and M.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Delaware. Prince joined the DAMS lab in spring 2026 as a Ph.D. student and is working on sustainable construction materials.

Co-advised student

Anirudh Painuly at the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee. (Major adviser: P.C. Ashwin Kumar, IITR, India)

Alumni

Visiting Faculty 1) Jihui Xing (2018-19). Currently an Associate Professor at Beijing Jiaotong University.

Ph.D.1)Hizb Ullah Sajid (Ph.D. in Civil Engineering in fall 2021): Currently Research Engineer – Genex Systems/ FHWA Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center. Thesis: Post-Fire Damage and Corrosion in Structural Steels: Characterization and Prevention.

Ph.D.2) Dayakar Naik Lavadiya (Ph.D. in Civil Engineering in fall 2021): Currently an assistant professor at the University of Mary. Thesis: Neural Networks and Sensitivity Analysis for Detection and Interpretation of Structural Damage

M.S.1) Anik Das Anto (M.S. in Civil Engineering in fall 2022): Currently a Graduate student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Thesis: Fracture Initiating Mechanism in Additively Manufactured 17-4 Stainless Steel.

M.S.2) Akhil Venkatraju (M.S. in Computer Science in fall 2022): Currently a data scientist. Thesis: Automated Approaches for the Early-Stage Distinguishing of Palmer Amaranth from Waterhemp.

M.S.3) Gage Merkel (M.S. in Civil Engineering in fall 2023): Thesis: Thesis title: “Improving the ice melting capacity of salt brine solution through the addition of super absorbent polymers”.

P.D.2) Gururaj Acharya Mundkur: Postdoc 2024-2025

M.S.4) Maedeh Hesami (M.S. in Civil Engineering in summer 2025): Thesis title: “Starch-based hydrogel synthesis, characterization, and applications”.

Ph.D.3) Dharanidharan Arumugam (Ph.D. in Civil Engineering in summer 2025): Thesis title: “Interpretable and efficient data-driven models for microstructural characterization and metal fracture”.

Ph.D.4) Asif Jalal (Ph.D. in Civil Engineering in fall 2025): Thesis title: “Enhancing Durability of Cementitious Materials Using Bio-based Hydrogels and Superabsorbent Polymers”.

Ph.D.5) Sher Afgan (Ph.D. in Civil Engineering in fall 2025)