Gan Chowdhury, Arindam

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  • Dr. Chowdhury is Professor and Chair of CEE. He serves as PI and Director of the National Science Foundation-supported NHERI Wall of Wind (WOW) Experimental Facility, a world-renowned tropical cyclone simulator. He received his Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics from Iowa State University (Ames, IA), his M.Tech degree from IIT Mumbai in Structural Engineering, and his B.S. degree in Civil Engineering was Jadavpur University. At FIU, he works closely with the Extreme Events Institute and InteRaCt, both of which are FIU Preeminent Programs. Since joining FIU in 2006, he has received numerous research awards, including from NSF, the Gulf of Mexico Regional Sea Grant Program, the Florida Sea Grant College Program, the Florida Department of Community Affairs, the Florida Division of Emergency Management, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the U.S. National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and private industry. He has carried out groundbreaking research on wind and structural engineering to safeguard and improve the resilience of our nation’s infrastructure. Under Dr. Chowdhury’s direction, the FIU WOW research team has made a significant impact in mitigating hurricane damage to coastal communities by enhancing building codes and patenting innovative mitigation technologies. Dr. Chowdhury has two patents on hurricane damage mitigation, one of which is for an Aerodynamic Mitigation and Power System (AMPS), a smart multi-functional solution for reducing hurricane impacts both in terms of reducing risk of loss and providing much needed power during and after storms. The AMPS story was published in the prestigious Smithsonian Magazine’s special energy section on the potential for harnessing hurricane-force winds to serve as a renewable energy source (http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/can-we-capture-energy-hurricane-180960750/?no-ist). He has received numerous awards and honors for his state-of-the-art research and service to FIU, including FIU’s Top Scholar Award in 2009 and 2012, the President’s Council Worlds Ahead Faculty Award in 2012, and Florida Sea Grant’s “2012 Research to Application Award.” Under Dr. Chowdhury’s leadership the NHERI WOW EF was lauded by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and received the prestigious Charles Pankow Award for Innovation in 2018. While recognizing Dr. Chowdhury and his team’s contributions with the Pankow Award, the ASCE noted “The NHERI WOW (https://fiu.designsafe-ci.org/) is recognized for opening up a realm of research and education opportunities, never before possible, to enhance the safety and resiliency of new and existing buildings and infrastructure.” Dr. Chowdhury is the recipient of an NSF CAREER Award, which led to his developing the active learning course “Hurricane Engineering for Global Sustainability,” which is facilitated by undergraduate Learning Assistants (LAs). He also enabled the development of a fully ONLINE course covering elements of wind and structural engineering and their complementary contributions to designing safe and economical structures for wind, which received the Quality Matters (QM) certification.

research interests

  • Low-rise building, Wall of wind, Multi-layer wall, Vinyl siding, Pressure equalization factor, PVC siding, Corner modification, Force coefficient, Gust effect factor, Variable message sign (VMS), Wall of Wind (WOW)

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full name

  • Arindam Gan Chowdhury

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