People

Dr. Dai joined the Wadsworth Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the West Virginia University (WVU) in August 2012 after completing his postdoctoral training at Georgia Institute of Technology and earning his Ph.D. in civil engineering from Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His research interests focus on sensing, experiments, modeling, and analytics to enable knowledge discovery and development of innovative strategies, methods, technologies, and tools for improving sustainability, safety, and health of construction working environments and infrastructure systems. While at WVU, Dr. Dai has developed an active, independent research program and built its research strengths in construction informatics and workplace safety. Dr. Dai has been serving on the editorial board of ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management since 2013, the editorial board of Elsevier Automation in Construction since 2022. He was the Chair of the ASCE Visualization, Information Modeling, and Simulation (VIMS) Committee and currently serves as the Member-at-Large of the ASCE Computing Division Executive Committee. His contribution to service was acknowledged with four-time Outstanding Reviewer Recognition by ASCE.

Mahfuza Maisha Mouri is a Graduate Research Assistant from 2024 pursuing Ph.D. in Civil Engineering. Her primary research focuses on virtual reality, drone distraction, and construction worker safety. She also works on education research in construction.

Alireza Ghasemi is a Graduate Research Assistant from 2023 pursuing Ph.D. in Civil Engineering. His primary focus is developing innovative strategies in construction projects, computer vision, and deep learning.

Jacob Riesser joined ICIL in Fall 2023. He brings extensive industry experience and is working on the evaluation of UAV-based methods for large-scale topographic mapping.

Nazia Zerin completed her BSc. in Civil Engineering from Khulna University of Engineering and Technology in 2015. After graduation, she worked as a Structural Safety Engineer in Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh and RMG Sustainability Council from 2017 to 2022. She joined ICIL at West Virginia University as a Graduate Research Assistant in Fall 2022 and her current research works are focused on occupational safety and health in construction workplaces.

Carlos “Omar” Garcia Lugo is currently a Computer Engineering undergraduate student at WVU. He joined ICIL in Fall 2024 as an UG researcher. Omar was a 2025-26 WV NASA Undergraduate Research Fellowship Awardee.