WACV2020 Presentation

Patrick  is a passionate researcher for smart sensors and sensing systems, in which he incorporates his scientific and engineering understanding of structures and people.  He is particularly interested in combining knowledge in civil engineering and other disciplines (e.g. nanotechnology, computer vision, electrical engineering, and material science) to convert traditional structures into more intelligent systems with a “perception” of structures and surrounding environment.  He has been appointed as an Assistant Professor in Smart Cities in the CECE department at the University of Central Florida starting Fall 2020.  Now he serves as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in CEE department at the University of Michigan.  His current research is on people-centered smart city studies and computer vision aided context-aware system for urban planning.  Dr. Sun obtained his Ph.D. in Civil/Structural engineering from Rice University, where he developed a novel coating, Smart Skin, for wireless strain sensing and damage identification on structures (e.g. buildings and infrastructures).  He obtained his M.S. in Structural/Earthquake Engineering and B.S. in Civil Engineering from Southeast University. He has received the Bruce Deal and Andy Grove Young Author Award (2017) from the Electrochemical Society (ECS), SCI Transdisciplinary Symposium Award (2016) and Best Award in CEVE/MECH/MSNE of Rice Research Screech Competition (2015) from Rice University, Student Travel Award (2016) from American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT), etc.

EXPERIENCE

2020- Current

Assistant Professor

University of Central Florida, Orland

Department of Civil, Environmental, and Construction Engineering

2017- 2020

Postdoc Research Fellow

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

2012-2017

Ph.D. Research Assistant

Rice University, Houston

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

My PhD research in 90 seconds

NEWS

WACV2020 Presentation

Dr. Sun's Presentation Slide

Research Interests

OPENINGS

Research Assistantships for PhD students:

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Dr. Patrick Sun’s research group in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Construction Engineering at the University of Central Florida (UCF at Orlando, ) is looking for motivated Ph.D. students starting in Fall 2020 and Spring 2021. Multiple Research Assistantships with full financial support are available immediately. We encourage applications from highly self-motivated students with a solid background in infrastructure and human sensing (e.g. sensor development, image/signal processing), sensing system development (e.g. computer vision with coding experience in python, C++, or matlab), data science (e.g. machine/deep learning, data analytics, and simulation), or a related experimental or analytical field, and a strong interest in applying these tools to tackle research problems in smart infrastructures and smart cities. We will aim at publishing our research on well-known structural sensing journals (e.g. Structural Control and Health Monitoring, Smart Materials and Structures, ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering), top computer vision/computing conferences (e.g. IEEE conferences CVPR, WACV, and BMVC, ACM conference CSCW).

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​Successful candidates will conduct thesis research in one or more of the following areas:

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• Quantifying human activity using deep learning-based computer vision technologies

• Sensing and analyzing social dynamics in both public open spaces and in-door built environment

• Characterization and development of strain sensors for civil infrastructures using nanomaterials

• Designing MEMS-based thin-film sensors to measure structural response, human health and activity-related responses

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To express your interest in joining the group as a Ph.D. student, please email your complete CV and a short cover letter to Dr. Patrick Sun (, website: http://www.patrick-sun.com).  Positions for research interns and visiting scholars/students are also available.

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