Zhigang Shen

Contact Information:

City Campus (Lincoln)

Kiewit Hall - A405EE
1700 Vine St., Lincoln, NE 68588-0684

(402) 472-9470

shen@unl.edu

Personal Links:

• BiiM Lab Webpage

Professional Memberships:

• ASCE Data Sensing and Analysis Committee
• ASCE Uncrewed Aircraft Systems Committee
• Association for Computing Machinery

Professor

Academic Degrees

Ph.D., Construction, University of Florida, 2007
M.S., Computer Engineering, University of Florida, 2003
M. Architecture, Tongji University, China, 1997
B. Engineering, Architecture, Zhengzhou University, China, 1992

Experience

Dr. Shen's six-year industry experience includes being an architect at Tianchen Chemical Engineering Corporation (ENR Global Top 100 Engineering Firm), Tianjin Office, an architect at John Portman & Associates, Shanghai Office, an intern/Project Engineer at Weitz Company, West Palm Beach Office, an estimator at Ecclestone Homes, Palm Beach Garden Office, a Project Engineer at Catalfumo Construction and Development Inc, Plam Beach Garden Office.

His academic experience includes being an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, a visiting Associate Professor at New York University, and an Assistant/Associate/Full Professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Appointment

50% Teaching, 40% Research, and 10% Service

Curriculum Vitae (CV):

Shen Short CV 2023.pdf

Areas of Research and Professional Interest

High-performance Building Envelope, Autonomous Infrastructure NDE, 3D Modeling/Remodeling, Computer Vision, Image Processing, Robotics, UAS / UAV, VR/AR

Research Profiles:

In the News: Powered by the

Nov 08, 2024: Duncan, Shen chosen to 2024-25 FLAIR cohort

Mar 13, 2024: Shen’s innovative camera focused on improving pipeline safety, reliability

Apr 17, 2023: 19 Nebraska Engineering faculty receive promotion and/or tenure

Oct 28, 2022: Shen chosen to NSF CMMI Game Changer Academies for Advancing Research Innovation Program

Apr 20, 2015: Engineers introduce design that mimics nature’s camouflage

Feb 12, 2015: Durham faculty's team creates 3-D model to help manage U.S. bridge repairs

Oct 30, 2014: Professor's 3D modeling enhances monitoring of bridge conditions

Nov 14, 2011: Durham School's Shen and Jensen honored at ASCE conference

Jun 20, 2010: Nebraska Engineering gains DOE funding to train veterans for more energy efficient healthcare facilities

Inventions/Patents

Provisional Patents/Software Copyright:

US Provisional Patent Application 63/413,132; “3D pipeline modeling using vSLAM and depth camera array”
US Provisional Patent Application No. 63/311,312; “Single-Pass 3D Reconstruction of Internal Surface of Pipelines Using Depth Camera Array”
Filed Software Copyright “ DelamKing” infrared-based concrete delamination profiling software NUTech Approved Disclosure: D2021-0015

Courses Taught

CNST860, CNST378, CNST379, CNST225

About Zhigang Shen

Dr. Shen’s current research is focused on the NDE of civil infrastructure (optical, infrared, and/or hyperspectral) and high-performance building envelopes. As PI/Co-PIs, he was awarded more than $3M+ research grants from funding agencies such as DOT (PHMSA), NSF, EPA, DOE, NDOT, and DOL. He published 70+ peer-reviewed articles in his research areas. He had six years of industry experience in the design and construction of large-scale commercial buildings and high-end residential buildings. He joined the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2007 as an assistant professor after serving two years at the University of Wisconsin-Stout as an assistant professor. He was a visiting associate professor at New York University from 2014 to 2015. He likes many sports, such as running, swimming, hiking, golfing, skating, and skiing.

Honors and Awards

2022 UNL Outstanding Postdoc Mentor Award
2020-2021 Excellence in Research of College of Engineering, UNL
2019-2020 Excellence in Research of College of Engineering, UNL
2018 Outstanding Reviewer of Elsevier Journal of Automation in Construction
2017 Outstanding Reviewer of Elsevier Journal of Applied Energy
UNL College of Engineering Faculty Service Award 2012
2011 Best Feature Article Award of ASCE Journal of Leadership and Management in Engineering
The Inaugural Alumni Pre-doctoral Fellow, the University of Florida, 1999-2003

Funding

	Short Title	Sponsor	Year	PI / Co-PI	Total $
1	Gas pipeline UAS aerial inspection and 3D modeling	US DOT-PHMSA	2019-2023	PI	$249,964
2	Detecting, Locating, and Mapping Internal Gas Pipeline Corrosion using Thermography and Photogrammetry	US DOT-PHMSA	2018-2022	PI	$299,998
3	Automating the detection of bridge deck defects using aerial thermography	NDOT	2019-2020	PI	$109,844
4	Early Detection of Near-surface Void Defects in Concrete Pavement Using UAV-Thermography	NDOT	2018-2019	PI	$94,668
5	IMPACT-Trade Adjustment Assistance	US DOL	2012-2016	Co-PI	$725,842
6	3D Element-based Bridge Condition Rating System	NDOT	2013-2015	PI	$46,091
7	Case-based virtual simulation of project failure	NSF	2011-2014	PI	$100,000
8	Building Energy Efficient Homes for America	US DOE	2011-2012	CO-PI	$528,254
9	Healthcare energy commissioning training	US DOE	2010-2013	PI	$405,741
10	Decentralized water/energy systems	US EPA	2009-2014	Co-PI	$750,000
11	Home Building Education Leadership Program	NAHB	2009-2012	Co-PI	$75,000
	Total Amount (excluding cost share)				$3,385,402

Selected Publications

Computer Vision	2023	Dual-function depth camera array for inline 3D reconstruction of complex pipelines	Automation in Construction	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2023.104893
UAV Control	2022	Flight Planning for Survey-Grade 3D Reconstruction of Truss Bridges	Remote Sensing	https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14133200
UAV Control	2022	Topology-based UAV path planning for multi-view stereo 3D reconstruction of complex structures	Complex and Intelligent Systems	https://doi.org/10.1007/s40747-022-00831-5
UAV Control	2020	A Co-optimal Coverage Path Planning Method for Aerial Scanning of Complex Structures	Expert Systems with Applications	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2020.113535
Infrared Image	2020	The application of the gray-scale level-set method in the segmentation of concrete deck delamination using infrared images	Construction and Building Materials	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2019.117974
Infrared Image	2020	Semi-real-time detection of subsurface consolidation defects during the concrete curing stage	Construction and Building Materials	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2020.121489
Infrared Image	2019	Thermographic Laplacian-pyramid filtering to enhance delamination detection in concrete structure	Infrared Physics & Tech	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infrared.2018.12.039
Infrared Image	2019	Bridge Deck Delamination Segmentation Based on Aerial Thermography Through Regularized Grayscale Morphological Reconstruction and Gradient Statistics	Infrared Physics & Tech	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infrared.2019.03.018
Deep Learning	2020	Automatic delamination segmentation for bridge deck based on encoder-decoder deep learning through UAV-based thermography	NDT&E International	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ndteint.2020.1
Computer Vision	2022	Single-pass inline pipeline 3D reconstruction using depth camera array	Automation in Construction	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2022.10
Computer Vision	2018	Multi-point vibration measurement and mode magnification of civil structures using video-based motion processing	Automation in Construction	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2018.05.025
Building Energy	2020	Assessing cooling energy reduction potentials by retrofitting traditional cavity walls into passively ventilated cavity walls	Building Simulation	https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-020-0740-0