Category Archives: News

Ibrahim Defends Dissertation

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Congratulations to Ahmed Ibrahim for defending his Ph.D. dissertation last week! Ahmed’s doctoral research, Automated Inspection and Assessment of Damaged Steel Girders Using Computer Vision and Machine Learning, was supervised by Ahmed Elbanna, Larry Fahnestock and Jim LaFave. Ahmed’s research was part of the project Strength and Serviceability of Damaged Steel Girders, which is funded by the Illinois Center for Transportation.

Ahmed Ibrahim with doctoral committee (Jim LaFave, Ahmed Elbanna, Larry Fahnestock and Mohamad Alipour) after defense.

New Paper on Point Cloud Processing for Damage Characterization

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Congratulations to Limo Schissler on leading the publication of a new journal paper:

Schissler, L., LaFave, J., Elbanna, E. and Fahnestock, L. “Point Cloud Processing for Damage Characterization of Steel I-Sections,” Journal of Structural Engineering, ASCE, 2026, 152 (6): 04026055.

This paper documents a portion of Illinois Center for Transportation (ICT) project R27-225 (“Strength and Serviceability of Damaged Steel Girders”).

New Paper on Damaged Girder Capacity Prediction

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Congratulations to Ahmed Ibrahim on leading the publication of a new journal paper:

Ibrahim, A.E., Fahnestock, L.A., LaFave, J.M. and Elbanna, A.E. “Explainable machine learning for predicting the load-carrying capacity of damaged steel girders after over-height vehicle strikes, Engineering Structures, 357 (2026) 122517.

This paper documents a portion of Illinois Center for Transportation (ICT) project R27-225 (“Strength and Serviceability of Damaged Steel Girders”).

New Research Report

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A new research report, which partially documents a multi-year research project that included bridge field monitoring and numerical simulations of live load and thermal effects, is now published online. This work is funded by the Illinois Center for Transportation. Sunny Zhou and Ricardo Dorado, the Ph.D. students on the project, are recognized for their essential roles executing this complex campaign! Volumes II and III will be published in the next few months.

Spatial and Temporal Load Distribution in Steel Bridge Superstructures (Vol. I): Agency Survey and Preliminary Numerical Modeling of Skewed Steel I-Girder Bridges for Field Instrumentation

Fahnestock Delivers Dexter Lecture

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Last month Larry Fahnestock delivered a Dexter Memorial Lecture, part of the Warren Distinguished Lecture Series, in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geo- Engineering at the University of Minnesota. The Dexter Memorial Lecture is held to honor the legacy of Prof. Robert Dexter (1956-2004). Robert is remembered for his technical expertise and contributions in steel fatigue and fracture, and for his humility, kindness, generosity and encouragement that touched so many people.

New Undergraduate Researchers

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Welcome to Eve Kim and Camila Marden, who have been selected for the CEE-sponsored Research Experience for Undergraduates program during the Fall 2025 semester! Eve has joined the project “Estimation of the Load Rating of Existing Highway Bridges Based on Bridge Weigh-In-Motion Data” led by PI Prof. Alipour and Co-PI Prof. Fahnestock, and Camila has joined the project “Strength and Serviceability of Damaged Steel Girders” led by PI Prof. Fahnestock and Co-PIs Prof. LaFave and Prof. Elbanna.

New Paper on Bridge Strikes

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Congratulations to Limo Schissler on leading the publication of a new journal paper:

Schissler, L., Ahershinge, S., Ibrahim, A., Fahnestock, L., LaFave, J. and Elbanna, A. “Survey and Review of Bridge Strikes and Assessment Methods for Low-Clearance Steel-Girder Bridges,” Journal of Structural Design and Construction Practice, ASCE, 2026, 31 (1): 04025107.

This paper documents a portion of Illinois Center for Transportation (ICT) project R27-225 (“Strength and Serviceability of Damaged Steel Girders”).