Our Team
Principal Investigator Heading link
Dr. Karatas, Principal Investigator CV/Resume LinkedIn Profile |
Dr. Karatas is the principal investigator of the UIC Built Environment and Infrastructure Lab. She received her PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2014), and MSc in Civil Engineering from the University of Florida (2009). She worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Civil Engineering Department in the University of Michigan. Prior to joining UIC, she was an assistant professor at Lawrence Technological University. She has more than ten years of experience in industry and academia. She has also involved in several research projects that were funded by various private and public agencies such as CPWR, National Science Foundation, Illinois Department of Transportation, and Florida Department of Transportation. She received the NAWIC Detroit Foremost Leader Award in 2019. She is also LEED Accredited Professional (AP), and a member of ASCE, USGBC, Chi Epsilon, Society of Women in Engineering, and NAWIC. |
Graduate Students Heading link
Hevar Palani, Ph.D. Student |
Hevar earned his MSc degree in Civil engineering from Lawrence Technological University. He was a 2019 - 2021 Fulbright Student Program Grantee. He is currently pursuing his PhD in Civil, Environmental and Materials Engineering at UIC under the supervision of Dr. Karatas. For BEI Lab, he is mainly focusing on analyzing the thermal performance of construction systems under various climate conditions. |
| Sharan Gottuparthi, Graduate Student |
Sharan is currently pursuing his MSc in Computer Science at UIC. For the BEI Lab, he works on Smart Environmental Management Systems for Improving Occupants Comfort. |
Banuprasad Velumani, PhD Student |
Banuprasad is currently pursuing his PhD in Civil, Environmental and Materials Engineering at UIC. For BEI Lab, he is mainly focusing on data collection and analyzes of energy efficiency of construction systems. |
Hamed Khaleghi, PhD Student |
Hamed Hamed earned his Bachelor of Engineering degree in Civil Engineering from Sharif University of Technology. He is currently pursuing his PhD in Civil, Environmental, and Materials Engineering at UIC under the supervision of Dr. Karatas. For the BEI Lab, he mainly focuses on investigating the impact of climate change and various weather conditions on building’s energy performance that account for the dynamics of individual components of buildings and inter-building effects coupled with the urban microclimate environment. |
Undergraduate Students Heading link
 Jildardo Luna, CURA Undergraduate Student |
Jildardo works as a CURA awardee at BEI Lab. He is pursuing his bachelor’s degree in Civil & Material Engineering at UIC. He has a passion for environmental engineering and sustainability. In his free time, he attempts to set up smart devices at home that work ten percent of the time, embroiders cute animals into old clothing, takes care of his snail (Blenny) and his betta (Baigo), and eats tomatoes from his tomato plant. |
 Michael Nwaigbo, Undergraduate Research Student |