Ph.D. Graduate Research Assistantship; Fall

Fall 2026 Ph.D. Opportunity in Civil/Structural Engineering at UNLV

A financially supported Ph.D. position is available in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Construction (CEEC) at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), beginning in the Fall 2026 semester. The successful candidate will work on a research project funded by the Top Tier Doctoral Graduate Research Assistantship (TTDGRA) program. This research focuses on enhancing the fatigue life of highway bridges by investigating the role of damping under combined thermal and heavy traffic loading.

The project involves:

• Developing high-fidelity Finite Element (FE) models of highway bridges.
• Analyzing Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) data to identify damping characteristics.
• Conducting fatigue analysis under various environmental and loading conditions.

• Funding: This position is supported by the TTDGRA award, which provides 3 years of funding (Fall 2026 through Spring 2029) with a 9-month contract each academic year. Summer support may be available, but it is contingent on funding and performance. Support is subject to maintaining satisfactory performance in research progress.
• Program Duration: The typical duration for completing a PhD in structural engineering at UNLV is 4 to 5 years.

Applicants must hold undergraduate and master’s degrees in civil engineering or a related field.

Experience with structural analytical software such as Open Sees and SAP
2000 is preferred. Programming skills in MATLAB or Python are desirable. All applicants must have valid GRE scores and satisfactory GPA. International applicants must provide proof of English proficiency.

For detailed admission requirements, please visit the PhD in Civil & Environmental Engineering program page (https://(Use the "Apply for this Job" box below).).

To be considered, please send your CV to Dr. Shoma Kitayama ayama. Following this initial contact, candidates must also formally apply for admission to UNLV by the March 1 deadline (or preferably earlier dates) for the Fall semester. The formal application can be found on the UNLV Graduate College website (https://).

Dr. Shoma Kitayama is an Assistant Professor of Structural Engineering at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). The project will be co-supervised by two distinguished faculty members from the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Construction:
Dr. Ying Tian (Professor), an expert in concrete structures, and Dr. Jay Park (Associate Professor), an expert in structural health monitoring and transportation systems.