Surya S.C. Congress
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Assistant Professor
Biography
Dr. Surya S. C. Congress is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Michigan State University. He is also an FAA Certified Drone Pilot and has flown many uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAV) missions to collect infrastructure condition data. Dr. Congress leverages his deep understanding of image processing, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to develop innovative methods for inspecting infrastructure using uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) coupled with close-range photogrammetry techniques. His areas of research interest include stabilization of problematic soils, resilient and sustainable designs for transportation geotechnical assets, climate change effects on civil infrastructure and communities, structural health monitoring of infrastructure assets using digital twins, applications of uncrewed aerial vehicles for infrastructure asset management, machine learning and neural network models for feature extraction, and computer vision applications for solving real-world problems. Dr. Congress received funding from various federal and state agencies, including the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), U.S. Department of Transportation (US DOT), and multiple state DOTs. Beyond his research, Dr. Congress is actively engaged in the transportation research community. He serves on committees for the Transportation Research Board and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), including a Vice-chair position. He actively shares his expertise through presentations at national and international conferences. In his free time, Dr. Congress enjoys being active in nature, participating in outdoor sports and embarking on glacier hikes. This passion for exploration extends to his professional pursuits, as he continuously pushes the boundaries of infrastructure assessment through cutting-edge technologies.
Education
- Ph.D., Civil Engineering, University of Texas at Arlington 2018
- M.S., Civil Engineering, Indian Inst. of Technology, Kharagpur 2014
- B.S., Civil Engineering, JNTU, Kakinada 2012
Research Interests
- Stabilization of Problematic Soils
- Resilient and Sustainable Designs for Transportation Geotechnical Assets
- Climate Change Effects on Civil Infrastructure and Communities
- Structural Health Monitoring of Infrastructure Assets Using Digital Twins
- Applications of Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles for Infrastructure Asset Management
- Machine Learning and Neural Network Models for Feature Extraction
- and Computer Vision Applications for Solving Real-World Problems
Selected Publications
- Congress, S. S. C., Puppala, A. J., Escamilla III, J., Jaladurgam, R., & Kumar, P. (2024). “Transportation bridge infrastructure asset condition monitoring using uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs).” Transportation Geotechnics, 47, 101268. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trgeo.2024.101268
- Kumar, P., Puppala, A. J., Congress, S. S.C., & Tingle, J. S. (2024). “Resilient Moduli Characterization of Cement-Treated Silt at High Compaction Energy Conditions.” Transportation Research Record, 03611981241252769. https://doi.org/10.1177/03611981241252
- Liu, X., Congress, S.S.C., Shen, J., Cai, G. and Chen, G. (2024). “A simple site amplification model originating from the NGA project for deep soft soil deposits in Suzhou, China. Natural Hazards, pp.1-23. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-023-06178-5
- Kumar, P., Puppala, A. J., Biswas, N., Congress, S. S.C., Tingle, J. S., & Little, D. N. (2024). “Assessment of Durability of Chemically Stabilized Soils Using Different Moisture-Susceptible Methods.” Transportation Research Record, 03611981241244795. https://doi.org/10.1177/03611981241244795
- Kumar, P., Puppala, A.J., Congress, S.S.C. and Tingle, J.S. (2024). “Characterization of Cement-Polymer-Treated Soils under Repeated Loading.” Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, 36(4), p.04024036.
MSU Scholar
Awards
- 2023 Quigley Award from the Canadian Geotechnical Society for the best paper published in the Canadian Geotechnical Journal
- The paper “Experimental Studies and Modeling of High Sulfate Soil Stabilization” published in the Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering was nominated for both ASCE’s Norman Medal 2020 and Arthur M. Wellington Prize 2020.
- The paper “Investigation of Thermal Conductivity and Prediction Model of Mucky Silty Clay” published in the ASCE Journal of Materials was featured on ASCE SmartBrief 2020
- ISSMGE’s Geotechnical Engineers Bright Spark Lecture 2018 Awardee, GeoMEast 2018, Cairo, Egypt
- Student scholarship award, Center for Transportation, Equity, Decisions and Dollars (CTEDD), USDOT (Tier-1) UTC 2018
- Outstanding Graduate Student Award, UT Arlington 2018
- “NBC Interview on Local News: UTA Researchers use Drones to Help Harvey Cleanup Efforts” Coverage on the research work during Hurricane Harvey, 2017.
- “ABC Interview on Local News: UTA using drones to help cities after natural disasters” Coverage on the research work during Hurricane Harvey, 2017.
- Vidya and A. Kumar Palaniappan/Terradyne Endowed Fellowship 2017 Awardee
- Best Teacher of the Year, GIER 2015
- DAAD IIT-Master Sandwich Scholarship 2013 Awardee, Assistance towards master’s thesis program at TU Darmstadt, Germany
- Student fellowship, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, 2012-2014
News
Surya Congress to receive national ASCE award
A Spartan Engineer at Michigan State University will receive national recognition for outstanding accomplishments as a young practitioner in geotechnical engineering.
