PhD Opportunity | Fall 2026 or Spring 2027 AI, Robotics, and Digital Twins for Civil Infrastructure

I am seeking a highly motivated PhD student to join my research group in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at The University of Alabama, starting in Fall 2026 or Spring 2027.

🔬 Research Focus
Our group works at the intersection of AI, robotics, digital twins, and sustainable civil infrastructure. We develop intelligent and autonomous systems for infrastructure diagnostics, performance simulation, and retrofitting, with a focus on technologies such as:
- Real-to-Sim-Real #DigitalTwins for multimodal data fusion and simulation analytics
- AI-enabled #Robotics and Human-AI-Robot Teaming
- #CommunityDriven Research and #TechnologyTransfer Pathways

📌 Who Should Apply
I am looking for students with strong interests and experience in one or more of the following areas:
- Artificial intelligence and machine learning
- Computer vision and multimodal sensing
- Robotics and autonomous systems
- Digital twins and simulation civil infrastructure, construction, or related engineering applications

📩 How to Apply
Please email kaiwen.chen@ua.edu with the following materials by June 1, 2026:
- CV
- Transcript
- One-page statement of research interests

I would greatly appreciate it if you could also share this opportunity with students or colleagues who may be interested.