UQEngineering Risk, Uncertainty, and Resilience LabRice Civil & Environmental Engineering

Dr. Sang-ri Yi is an Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rice. Before joining Rice University, she was an Assistant Project Scientist at University of California at Berkeley and a Senior Software Developer at NHERI SimCenter. In SimCenter, she led the design and implementation of advanced uncertainty quantification (UQ) capabilities in open-source natural hazard modeling and simulation software applications, including workflows for regional-scale surrogate modeling applications, variance-based sensitivity analysis, probabilistic inventory imputation, and multi-fidelity UQ.

Current Members

Dr. Seonghyun Lim

Postdoctoral Researcher

Seonghyun is a postdoctoral researcher at Rice University. His research focuses on uncertainty quantification and stochastic modeling for seismic risk analysis and resilience appraisal of complex infrastructure systems under extreme events.

Topics: Uncertainty quantification in natural hazards, System-level resilience assessment

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Tianfeng Liao

Ph.D. Student

Tianfeng joined the lab as a Ph.D. student in August 2026. Previously, she received her B.S. in Statistics from the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech). Her research interests lie in uncertainty quantification, Bayesian inference, and probabilistic modeling.

Topics: Uncertainty quantification

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Weize Ou

Ph.D. Student

Weize joined the lab as a Ph.D. student in August 2026. His research will primarily focus on surrogate modelling to estimate structural seismic vulnerability, with a particular interest in identifying and interpreting uncertainties along the modeling process to support more reliable and informed seismic risk assessment.

Topics: Stochastic dynamics, Surrogate modeling

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Alumni

Teaha Kim

Visiting Ph.D. Student

  • From Seoul National University, Oct 2025 - May 2026
  • Real-time input-state estimation for hysteretic systems and adaptive covariance selection

Publications

Publications

Conference Presentations

  • Adaptation of stochastic emulation to shift of distribution. Lim, S. and Yi, S.. Engineering Mechanics Institute Conference 2026 (EMI 2026). 2026
  • Adaptive covariane selection for filter-based joint input-state estimation of hysteretic structures. Kim, T., Yi, S., and Song, J.. Engineering Mechanics Institute Conference 2026 (EMI 2026). 2026
  • Stochastic emulation for seismic risk assessment and the impact of intensity measure selection. Yi, S., Taflanidis, A., Toofani Movaghar, P., Galasso, C., and Vamvatsikos, D.. Engineering Mechanics Institute Conference 2026 (EMI 2026). 2026
  • Stochastic emulation for seismic risk assessment using recorded ground motions: evaluation of applicability and significance of intensity measure selection. Yi, S., Taflanidis, A., Toofani Movaghar, P., Galasso, C., and Vamvatsikos, D.. NHERI Computational Symposium 2026. 2026
  • Characterizing debris fields and emulating impact intensity measures. Yi, S., Bonus, J., and Arduino, P.. 39th International Conference on Coastal Engineering 2026 (ICCE 2026). 2026
  • No-replication stochastic emulation for multi-output responses and application to seismic risk assessment. Yi, S. and Taflanidis, A.. SIAM Conference on Uncertainty Quantification (UQ26). 2026
  • Surrogate-aided Bayesian Calibration with adaptive learning strategies. Taflanidis, A., Aakash B.S., Yi, S., and Conte, J.. SIAM Conference on Uncertainty Quantification (UQ26). 2026
  • Multi-output stochastic emulation for predicting correlated aleatoric uncertainty. Yi, S. and Taflanidis, A.. 14th International Conference on Structural Safety and Reliability (ICOSSAR'25). 2025
  • Bayesian filter and smoother for joint input-state estimation of hysteretic structures. Kim, T., Yi, S., and Song, J.. 14th International Conference on Structural Safety and Reliability (ICOSSAR'25). 2025
  • ML/AI for Advancing Natural Hazards Engineering: The SimCenter Paradigm. Yi, S. and Taflanidis, A.. IMSI UQ and Trustworthy AI Algorithms for Complex Systems and Social Good. 2025
  • Probabilistic Imputation of Building Inventories for Regional Risk Assessment. Yi, S., Zsarnoczay, A., Aakash B.S., Giovanis, D., Cetiner, B., McKenna, F., and Taciroglu, E.. Engineering Mechanics Institute Conference 2025 (EMI 2025). 2025
  • Influence of structural information fidelity in seismic fragility estimations of reduced-order models. Yi, S., Toofani Movaghar, P., Taflanidis, A., and Galasso, C.. International Federation for Information Processing Working Group 7.5 on Reliability and Optimization of Structural Systems (IFIP WG 7.5 2022). 2024
  • Addressing correlation in stochastic emulation of seismic response. Yi, S. and Taflanidis, A.. International Federation for Information Processing Working Group 7.5 on Reliability and Optimization of Structural Systems (IFIP WG 7.5 2022). 2024
  • Development of recoverability index for structural systems from a perspective of perspective on system-reliability-based disaster resilience analysis. Kim, T. and Yi, S.. International Federation for Information Processing Working Group 7.5 on Reliability and Optimization of Structural Systems (IFIP WG 7.5 2022). 2024
  • Statistical imputation of missing building inventory and its impact on regional seismic risk estimation. Yi, S., Zsarnoczay, A., Aakash, B.S., Giovanis, D., Cetiner, B., and McKenna, F.. 18th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering (WCEE2024). 2024
  • Enhancing the efficiency of earthquake rupture forecasting models with adaptive importance sampling in regional seismic risk assessment. Zhao, J., Yi, S., and Taflanidis, A.. 18th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering (WCEE2024). 2024
  • Gaussian process surrogate modeling of wind pressure statistics of two adjacent buildings. Yi, S., Ding, F., Taflanidis, A., and Kareem, A.. Engineering Mechanics Institute Conference and Probabilistic Mechanics & Reliability Conference (EMI/PMC 2024). 2024
  • Database-enabled surrogate-assisted investigation on the interference effects of two adjacent buildings. Ding, F., Yi, S., Taflanidis, A., and Kareem, A.. 16th International Conference on Wind Engineering (ICWE16). 2023
  • Stochastic kriging with enhanced partial replication strategy for seismic response estimation. Yi, S. and Taflanidis, A.. The 14th International Conference on Applications of Statistics and Probability in Civil Engineering (ICASP14). 2023
  • Active learning-based structural design optimization under constraints on first-passage probability. Kim, J., Yi, S., and Song, J.. The 14th International Conference on Applications of Statistics and Probability in Civil Engineering (ICASP14). 2023
  • Efficient Bayesian posterior sampling aided by kriging surrogate model. Aakash, B.S., Yi, S., and Taflanidis, A.. ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute Conference (EMI 2023). 2023
  • Stochastic emulation of seismic structural response using enhanced partial replication strategy. Yi, S. and Taflanidis, A.. ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute Conference (EMI 2023). 2023
  • Appraisal and mathematical properties of fragility analysis methods. Yi, S., Papakonstantinou, K.G., Andriotis, C.P., and Song, J.. The 13th International Conference on Structural Safety and Reliability (ICOSSAR 2021-2022). 2022
  • Fire resilience evaluation of cable-stayed bridges through reliability-redundancy analysis. Lim, S., Yi, S., Kim, H.J., and Song, J.. The 13th International Conference on Structural Safety & Reliability (ICOSSAR 2021-2022). 2022
  • Sensitivity analysis and Bayesian calibration of a constitutive soil model using quoFEM. Yi, S., Aakash, B.S., Nair, A.S., Arduino, P., Zsarnoczay, A., and McKenna, F.. OpenSees Days 2022 Eurasia. 2022
  • Efficient adaptive design of experiments methods for global surrogate modeling based on approximated mean squared error and multi-criteria search technique. Yi, S. and Taflanidis, A.. ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute Conference (EMI 2022). 2022
  • Development of active learning-based surrogate method for estimating reliability of stochastic wind-excited systems. Kim, J., Yi, S., and Song, J.. ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute Conference (EMI 2022). 2022
  • Multicriteria searching-based adaptive design of experiments for global Gaussian process modeling. Yi, S. and Taflanidis, A.. Mechanistic Machine Learning and Digital Twins for Computational Science, Engineering & Technology (MMLDT-CSET 2021). 2021
  • First-passage probability estimation of a vibratory system based on a Poisson branching process model. Yi, S. and Song, J.. ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute Conference (EMI 2021). 2021
  • Stochastic fragility analysis of MDOF systems using Gaussian mixture-based equivalent linearization method (GM-ELM). Yi, S., Wang, Z., and Song, J.. 13th International Conference on Applications of Statistics and Probability in Civil Engineering (ICASP13). 2019
  • Stochastic seismic analysis by bivariate Gaussian mixture-based equivalent linearization method. Yi, S., Wang, Z., and Song, J.. 6th International Symposium on Reliability Engineering and Risk Management (6ISRERM). 2018
  • Nonlinear stochastic dynamic analysis for PBEE by Gaussian mixture-based equivalent linearization methods. Yi, S., Wang, Z., and Song, J.. ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute Conference (EMI 2018). 2018
  • Probabilistic diagnosis and prognosis of steel plate corrosion by particle filter assimilation of force-displacement observations. Yi, S. and Song, J.. 8th International Conference on Structural Health Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastructure (SHMII8). 2017
  • Enhanced Monte Carlo simulation-based spatial reliability analysis of RC plate subject to chloride-induced corrosion. Yi, S., Li, Z., Song, J., and Yun, G.. Probabilistic Safety Assessment and Management 13 (PSAM13). 2016

Dataset

News

Sep 2026

Sang-ri Yi gave a talk at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Houston.

Aug 2026

Weize Ou and Tianfeng Liao joined the group as PhD students.

Sang-ri Yi joined the EMI Probabilistic Methods Committee.

Sang-ri was also invited to give a talk and tutorial on regional-scale resilience at NHERI SPARC, held at the University of Texas at Austin.

Jun 2026

Seonghyun Lim, Taeha Kim, and Sang-ri Yi presented at EMI. Sang-ri also presented at ICCE, NHERI Computational Symposium, and CSM9.

Talks by our group members

  • Seonghyun Lim (Postdoc): Adaptation of stochastic emulation to shift of distribution.
  • Taeha Kim (Visiting PhD student, SNU): Adaptive covariance selection for joint input-state estimation of hysteretic structures.
  • Sang-ri Yi: Stochastic emulation for seismic risk assessment using recorded ground motions; Characterizing debris fields and emulating impact intensity measures.

Mar 2026

Sang-ri Yi presented at SIAM-UQ26 in Minneapolis.

Dec 2025

Taeha Kim joined the group as a Visiting PhD Student from Seoul National University.

Sang-ri Yi joined the EMI Objective Resilience Committee and is co-organizing two mini-symposia at EMI 2026.

EMI 2026 mini-symposia

  • MS 069: Uncertainty Quantification and System Reliability Methods for Regional Risk and Resilience Assessment.
  • MS 072: Reimagining Digital Twins through Artificial Intelligence and Probabilistic Reasoning for Infrastructure Resilience.

Oct 2025

Seonghyun Lim joined the group as a Postdoctoral Researcher.

Sang-ri Yi gave a talk at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Rice University.

Jul 2025

Sang-ri Yi joined the faculty of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Rice University as an Assistant Professor!