Parisa Khodabakhshi, a Ph.D. student in the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering at Texas A&M University, was recently awarded the O.H. Ammann Research Fellowship from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). This fellowship is given to a member of ASCE to promote the creation of new knowledge in the field of structural design and construction. This award includes a stipend of $8,000 toward Khodabakhshi’s research, which focuses on two distinct topics: nonlocal continuum mechanics and reformulation of conventional finite element method for the study of damage.
Khodabakhshi studies under the supervision of Dr. J. N. Reddy, Distinguished Professor, Regents Professor and Holder of the Oscar S. Wyatt Jr. Chair who holds a joint appointment in the civil and mechanical engineering departments at Texas A&M. Khodabakhshi earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering at Sharif University of Technology in Iran. She currently conducts research in the fields of applied mechanics, continuum mechanics and structural mechanics.
After completing her doctoral work at Texas A&M, Khodabakhshi plans to pursue a career in academia as a university professor. She is currently participating in the Graduate Teaching Fellowship program at Texas A&M which gives her the opportunity to instruct an undergraduate course in civil engineering.
Contributing author: Ryan Terry