About: The Smart Cities: Event Series, hosted by the DSI Smart Cities Center, will feature programs focused on the future of urban systems and the technologies reshaping them. Designed to foster collaboration across domains, the series will highlight work at the intersection of data science, AI, and emerging digital infrastructure with an eye toward the needs of evolving urban environments.
Registration Request: Registration will be prioritized for Columbia faculty, affiliated scholars, and postdoctoral researchers. If you are a student or external guest, you may be waitlisted to attend until closer to the event date. All who submit on the below form will receive a confirmation email and a calendar hold if your registration is approved. Thank you again for your interest in attending!
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Date: Thursday, May 14
Location: 7th Floor Conference Room, Mudd Building, 500 W. 120th St., New York, NY 10027
Presentation: 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
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Speaker: Daan Liang, Professor, Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering, Director of Center for Sustainable Infrastructure (CSI), University of Alabama
Narrowing the Gap or Leaping Forward: Reimagining U.S. Infrastructure for Resilience and Adaptability
The infrastructures in the United States are at a critical juncture, under constant, compounded threats by escalating weather and climate disasters and deteriorating legacy systems. From the Maui wildfires that exposed systemic vulnerabilities to transit, aviation, and schools earning "at risk" D grades, even our lifeline systems struggles to respond to rising physical stressors and shifting user demands. In this talk, Dr. Daan Liang argues that overcoming these challenges requires a major departure from traditional designs based on "average person" and “design event”. Underpinning this departure are new knowledge and insights derived from deep integration of engineering, social science, information technology, art, and other disciplines. By understanding how human perception, behavior, and intent interact with physical spaces, for example, architects and engineers are able to create a new class of built environment that actively promotes wellness, creativity, and social engagement. Furthermore, he points to an ongoing transition from the "fail-safe" to "build-to-adapt" framework. The talk concludes by exploring and discussing nascent ideas such as "neuro-in-the-loop" engineered systems, community-based randomized controlled trials, and predictive maintenance powered by AI.
Speaker Bio:
Dr. Daan Liang is a Professor in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering and the Director of Center for Sustainable Infrastructure (CSI) at the University of Alabama. From 2021 to 2025, he was the Program Director for the Humans, Disasters, and Built Environment (HDBE) program at the National Science Foundation (NSF). The program supported fundamental, multidisciplinary research on the interactions between humans and the built environment within and among communities exposed to natural, technological, and other types of hazards and disasters. His portfolio also included cross-cutting disaster-related solicitations and DCLs. In addition, Dr. Liang represented the NSF on Interagency Working Group for the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program (NWIRP), Subcommittee on Resilience Science and Technology (SRST), and Science for Disaster Reduction (SDR).
Previously, Dr. Liang co-founded and co-directed an NSF Industry-University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) on Wind Hazard and Infrastructure Performance (WHIP). He received his bachelor’s degree in engineering management from Tianjin University, China in 1997 and both his MS (1999) and PhD (2001) in civil engineering from University of Buffalo, New York. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in Texas.