Personnel - Experimental Dynamics Simulation Research

Principal Investigator and Project Manager

Dr. María D. Cortes-Delgado

Dr. Maria D. Cortes-Delgado holds BS and MS degrees in Civil Engineering from University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez (UPRM) and a PhD (2014) in Civil-Structural Engineering from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo. She has been involved in experimental testing projects using hybrid simulation to evaluate structural collapse and simulate complex structural systems on the research project “Hybrid Simulation with Distributed Substructures Including Overlapping Domains” under the guidance of Dr. Gilberto Mosqueda and with international collaborators in China (Dr. Wang Tao) and Japan (Dr. Nakashima). She developed, with the advice of Dr. Daniel Wendichansky, the UPRM Earthquake Simulator Facility located at the Department of Civil Engineering and Surveying to investigate the behavior of small-scaled model structures under dynamic loading. Dr. Cortes-Delgado was awarded the Schomburg Fellowship for four years, and the NSF Graduate Research Diversity Supplement while pursuing her doctorate. The Schomburg Fellowship is offered by New York State for students with outstanding academic credentials and who are also historically underrepresented students in graduate programs across the university.

At present, Dr. Cortes-Delgado is a tenure-track Assistant Professor since 2016 at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, at the Department of Engineering Sciences and Materials. She has taught: Creative Design I (first year course for Mechanical Engineer students), Mechanics of Materials (third year course for Industrial and Civil Engineers) and Undergraduate Research for Mechanical and Civil Engineers students. Dr. Cortes-Delgado has also remained active on research and was awarded in 2015 a Faculty Development Award by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to develop hybrid simulation facilities at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez. Her current research focuses on the development of better experimental methods for hybrid simulation and shaking table tests, and the application of these methods to new areas like aerospace structures and systems and wind turbines.