Welcome to the online home of the Fahnestock Research Group within CEE at Illinois. Led by Prof. Larry Fahnestock, and collaborating with colleagues at Illinois and other universities, the group conducts research broadly related to behavior, design and performance of large-scale structural systems. We employ laboratory and field testing in conjunction with analytical and numerical models to illuminate critical aspects of behavior that inform advances in system configurations and design methods, ultimately leading to superior performance that contributes to infrastructure resiliency and sustainability. Research topics span across buildings and bridges, moderate and high seismic design, low and high ductility response, service and extreme load conditions. Current projects are sponsored by the National Science Foundation, American Institute of Steel Construction and Illinois Center for Transportation. This site provides a brief overview of the group activities, so please inquire for more details about anything posted here.
Vintimilla Receives Scholarship
Dorado Defends Dissertation
Congratulations to Ricardo Dorado for defending his Ph.D. dissertation last week! Ricardo’s doctoral research, Influence of Skew and Integral Abutments on Stress Distribution in Steel I-Girder Bridges, was supervised by Larry Fahnestock and Jim LaFave. Ricardo’s research was part of the project Evaluation of Spatial and Temporal Load Distribution in Steel Bridge Superstructures, which was funded by the Illinois Center for Transportation.
Ricardo Dorado with doctoral committee – Jim LaFave, Ahmed Elbanna (USC), Todd Helwig (UT Austin), and Larry Fahnestock – after defense.
New Research Reports Published
Two new research reports, which document multi-year research projects funded by the Illinois Center for Transportation (ICT) are now published.
Evaluation of Steel Bridge Girders Damaged by Over-height Vehicle Strikes Using Terrestrial Laser Scanning and Machine Learning is the final report for the project ICT R27-225 Strength and Serviceability of Damaged Steel Girders.
Spatial and Temporal Load Distribution in Steel Bridge Superstructures (Vol. III): Investigation of Skew and Abutment Influence on Steel I-Girder Bridge Performance under Live Load and Long-Term Thermal Effects through Field Data and Parametric Studies is the last volume of the final report for the project ICT R27-194 Evaluation of Spatial and Temporal Load Distribution in Steel Bridge Superstructures.
Special thanks to the Ph.D. students – Ahmed Ibrahim, Limo Schissler, Sunny Zhou, and Ricardo Dorado – whose significant contributions made these major research projects possible!
Shi and Tao Present at 13NCEE
Congratulations to Shitao Shi and Zhuoqi Tao for presenting portions of their Ph.D. research at the 13th National Conference on Earthquake Engineering!
Vintimilla Joins Group
Welcome to Xavier Vintimilla, as he begins the Ph.D. program in structural engineering advised by Prof. Larry Fahnestock! Xavier received a M.S. in Civil Engineering at Illinois in May 2026, and at the recent 13th National Conference on Earthquake Engineering (13NCEE) he presented his M.S. research conducted with Prof. Bill Spencer. Xavier completed undergraduate studies at the University of Cuenca, and he subsequently worked in structural engineering consulting for a year before coming to Illinois as a Fulbright Scholar.
Xavier Vintimilla presenting at 13NCEE.
New Report Published
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! Volume I was published earlier this year and Volume III will be published next month.
Ibrahim Receives PhD
Congratulations to Ahmed Ibrahim for being hooded and receiving his doctoral degree earlier this month during the University of Illinois commencement celebration!
Tao Passes Prelim
Congratulations to Zhuoqi Tao on passing the Ph.D. preliminary exam last week! Zhuoqi’s research on steel moment resisting frames with spines and force-limiting connections for enhanced seismic performance is partially funded by the National Science Foundation.
Ibrahim Defends Dissertation
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
Congratulations to Limo Schissler on leading the publication of a new journal paper:
This paper documents a portion of Illinois Center for Transportation (ICT) project R27-225 (“Strength and Serviceability of Damaged Steel Girders”).