Alireza Shahjouei, Civil Engineering Alum
Degree(s)
PhD (2015)
Current Residence
New York, NY
Current Employer
Marsh
What influenced your decision to attend Herff College of Engineering?
Civil Engineering Department at Herfff offered and well known for a unique resrach area in the engineering sesimolgy (led by Dr. Pezeshk) that only a few universitioes in US offered at the time. Working with Dr. Pezeshk was the main reason to enroll in the Herff.
How did Herff prepare you for your career?
Herff provides a wide range of the academic curriculum along with environment you need to focus on the research topic.
What skills or knowledge did you learn throughout the program that you found most helpful in your career?
Beside the technical skills gained in structural/earthquake engineering and engineering sesimology areas, the Herff helped me to expand the soft skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, project and time management, as well as thought leadership.
Who was your most impactful professor? Why?
Dr. Shahram Pezeshk - my doctoral degree's advisor
Were you involved in student groups? If so, which one(s)?
Yes: Earthquake Engineering Research Institute(EERI), Persian Student Association (PSA), Executive Board Member of the UoM's Student Event Allocation Committee
What support(s) did you have during your time as a college student? How did you keep focused on the goal?
In addition to support that I got from my family and close friends that is essential especially for an international student like me, I was fortunate to receive the financial assistance toward my education costs including fellowship form the Herff College of Engineering. Dr. Pezeshk was very supportive and helped students to attend conferences, and workshops in which not only we presented the research work and exchange the idea with the peers but also it provides opportunity to create a broad network with both academia and industry leaders.
What was your greatest memory from your time at Herff?
There are several but I do recall a moment that my advisor and I received a note that our proposed model (a part of my doctorla research work) is accepted as part of a big project with the goal to support the update of the USGS's national sesimic hazard map (and the model is currently used by USGS).
What advice would you give those considering enrolling in Herff College of Engineering?
Great Choice! Just make sure you spend the time wisely and first know and then leverage the great resources available to you at Herff and broadly at UoM. The word is evolving so fast and though specialization is absolutely a demand on market, the work efficiency would be achieved by gaining more diverse skill set working in an interdisciplinary team work environment.
What do you know now that you wish you had known during your time at Herff?
There are tons of resources available across Herff departments as welL as UoM's departments/collegaes. I knew a few at the time and tried to leverage yet I could do it better and more. These resources increase the efficnecy of the work especially in the reserach topics toward dissertation/Thesis.
Was your Herff experience worth the price? If you could do it over again, what would you do differently?
absolutely yes - if I want to start over again, i would engage more in the interdisciplinary projects.
