People

Brand Research Group

Alexander S. Brand, Ph.D., P.E., is an assistant professor in the Charles E. Via, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and an affiliate faculty member in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Virginia Tech. Prior to joining VT in August 2018, Dr. Brand was a National Research Council Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Materials and Structural Systems Division of the Engineering Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, MD. He received his B.S. (2010), M.S. (2012), and Ph.D. (2015) degrees in civil engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a registered Professional Engineer in Virginia.

Current Ph.D. Students

Photo of thien tran — Thien Tran is a Ph.D. student advised by Dr. Brand. He received his M.S. and B.S. degrees in civil engineering from Chonnam National University in 2019 and the University of Da Nang University of Science and Technology in 2015, respectively.

Photo of rashed alarrak — Rashed Alarrak is a Ph.D. student advised by Dr. Brand. He received his M.S. and B.S. degrees in civil engineering from Virginia Tech in 2021 and Arizona State University in 2019, respectively.

Photo of Eun

Photo of Eun — Sungeun Cho is a Ph.D. student advised by Dr. Brand. She received her M.S. and B.S. degrees in civil engineering from Pusan National University.

Thomas Carnes

Thomas Carnes — Thomas Carnes is a Ph.D. student co-advised by Dr. Brand and Dr. Carin Roberts-Wollmann. He received his M.S. and B.E. degrees in civil engineering from the University of Akron in 2022 and Youngstown State University in 2019, respectively.

Rahat photo

photo of Md.H.H. Rahat — Md. Hasibul Hasan Rahat is a Ph.D. student advised by Dr. Brand. He received his M.S. in Construction Engineering from East Carolina University in 2022 and B.S. in Civil Engineering in 2017 from Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology in Bangladesh in 2017. He also received his MBA from University of Dhaka in Bangladesh in 2019. He was previously a Structural Engineering Lecturer at Bangladesh University.

Photo of Sung-won

Photo of Sung-won — Sung-won Cho is a Ph.D. student advised by Dr. Brand. She received her M.S. and B.S. degrees in civil engineering from Pusan National University.

Photo of Raja

Photo of Raja — Raja Shekar B. Dandu is a Ph.D. student in MSE co-advised by Dr. Rebecca Cai and Dr. Brand. He received his M.S. and B.S. degrees in materials science and engineering from the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology in 2018 and Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University in 2016, respectively.

Current M.S. Students

Tu-Nam photo

Tu-Nam photo — Tu-Nam Nguyen is an M.S. student advised by Dr. Brand. He received his B.S. in civil engineering from Virginia Tech.

photo of shadab

photo of shadab — Mohammad Shadab Shaikh is an M.S. student advised by Dr. Brand. He received his B.E. degree in civil engineering from the University of Mumbai in India. He previously worked as a Structural Designer for Godrej and Boyce Mfg. Co.

Mohammad Owais Ahmad

Photo of Mohammad Owais Ahmad — Mohammad Owais Ahmad is an M.S. student advised by Dr. Brand. He received his bachelors degree in civil engineering from Aligarh Muslim University in India. He previously worked as an intern for National Highways Authority of India on expansion of National Highway 91 in North India.

Photo of byeonguk jeon — Byeonguk Jeon is an M.S. student advised by Dr. Brand. He received his B.S. degree in civil engineering from the Korea Military Academy. He is a Captain in the Republic of Korea Army.

Photo of Ketki Phadke — Ketki Phadke is an M.S. student advised by Dr. Brand. She received her B.S. degree in civil engineering from Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, India. She previously worked as a civil engineer in the construction of Mumbai Metro.

Former Students

Former Ph.D. Students

Ebenezer Fanijo, Ph.D. (CEE), 2022

Former M.S. Students

Michael Lowry, M.S. (CEE), 2022
Douglas Annand, M.S. (CEE), 2022
Paul Atwood, M.S. (CEE), 2022
Elizabeth Bise, M.S. (CEE), 2022
Ebenezer Fanijo, M.Eng. (MSE), 2022
Shivani Agrawal, M.S. (CEE), 2022
Laurie Metzler, M.S. (CEE), 2021
Donald DeMartino, M.S. (CEE), 2021
T. Trevor Painter, M.S. (CEE), 2020
Morgan C. Jenkins, M.S. (CEE), 2019

Former Visiting Scholars

Ali Aghajanian, University of Cantabria, 2022

Former Postdoctoral Research Associates

Dr. Amir Behravan, 2020-2022

Former Undergraduate Research Assistants

Alexander Zhao (CEE), 2022
Mitchell Davis (CEE), 2022
Anketse Zewdu, MAOP Program, Summer 2022
Sean Li (CEE), 2022
Matt deJong (MSE), 2021
Emily Schwab (MSE), 2019
Nicole MacCrate (MSE), 2019

Research Group Photos

Graduation December 2022

Graduation December 2022

End of Year Social

End of Year Social — Brand Research Group End-of-Year Social in December 2022

Concrete Wall Inspection, May 2022

Photo of Concrete Wall Inspection, May 2022 — Concrete Wall Inspection, May 2022