Growing up in New York City I've always loved architecture and had great respect for infrastructure. Being more mathematically inclined than artistically, I chose to pursue structural engineering. After working at a structural consulting firm for a summer I decided that traditional engineering wasn't really for me and decided I would be happier in a research-based Ph.D program.
I was most attracted to the CEE department. I was interested in a line of research that was more computational than experimental, and I had that option here at Cornell. I spoke with Professor Earls before choosing to come and he had a project that aligned extremely well with my interests, so I decided Cornell was the best place for me. Also, I didn't want to go too far from home, so Ithaca was still close enough to New York that I could easily go home for the weekend.
I am currently the President of the CEE Graduate Student Association and the outgoing Social Chair. In my spare time, I enjoy skiing in the winter time and am excited to learn snowboarding this upcoming season. In warmer weather I enjoy bicycling. I also enjoy checking out Ithaca's restaurants and cooking when I have the time.
My field is computational fluid-structures interaction. I'm currently working on finishing up the coupling of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver NFA (Numerical Flow Analysis) with the in-house developed CU-BEN Finite element analysis structural dynamics solver. By running a co-simulation we can use the two computer codes to calculate effectively the responses of fluids on the structure of naval ships.
(Justyna works in The Earls Group.)
I really enjoy the freedom I have to study my field however I like. My field of research deviates quite a bit from from traditional structural engineering, and it's comforting to be in a program that fosters innovation.
Q and A with Bo Rider, "I knew that in CEE I would receive a robust, comprehensive education which would prefer for any type of civil engineering career I wanted to pursue after graduation." Read more about Bo Rider: CEE gives more ways to build a career
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