Connie Chen

Dr. Connie Chen specializes in structural analysis, forensic investigation, and performance assessment of buildings and other structures subjected to a variety of conditions, including earthquakes, extreme winds, wildland fires, and water intrusion. Her experience includes developing and applying advanced numerical modeling methods to evaluate complex structural behavior, including the nonlinear behavior of reinforced concrete structures under extreme loading. She has simulated tall reinforced concrete buildings response to earthquakes, with a particular focus on understanding the effects of vertical ground motions.

As a consultant, Dr. Chen has worked on a diverse range of projects, including forensic structural analysis of building failures (including bowstring truss roofs and metal buildings), failure analysis of poles and other utility infrastructure to mitigate the risk of wildfire ignitions, and damage assessments of residential and commercial buildings, including historic buildings, auditoriums, and specialty structures housing scientific equipment. She has also evaluated existing buildings for design errors and code compliance issues, and has developed expert witness reports and technical opinions in the context of construction‑related legal disputes.

Additionally, Dr. Chen has worked on the development and delivery of a probabilistic risk assessment framework for electric transmission infrastructure to support wildfire prevention. She developed proof-of-concept code for a probabilistic modeling engine and coordinated a cross-functional software development team to deploy the model within a client-facing data platform. She worked on the design of interactive risk visualization dashboards, translating technical modeling outputs into actionable insights for stakeholders. She also worked with client stakeholders during the user acceptance testing (UAT) phase to help triage issues, communicate model behavior, and refine functionality based on user feedback.

Dr. Chen received her Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, where her doctoral research focused on the effect of vertical input ground motions on tall reinforced concrete core-wall buildings. Her work involved designing and modeling a 40-story archetypal reinforced concrete core-wall building, developing a custom suite of ground motions with the vertical component of motion, and performing nonlinear response history analysis (NLRHA). She developed advanced numerical models to represent the nonlinear behavior of slab-column gravity systems as well as the lateral response of columns under high axial compression. She also has experience leveraging high-performance computing for large-scale nonlinear dynamic simulations of structural systems.

Dr. Chen has experience teaching graduate and undergraduate-level structural engineering courses at UC Berkeley, including the seismic design of reinforced concrete structures. Dr. Chen also has experience analyzing existing buildings and designing nonstructural components while working at a design consulting firm in San Francisco.