Lu Gao

Lu Gao

Professor

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Security, Risk and Resilience Lab

University of Houston

E-Mail: lgao5@central.uh.edu

I am a Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Cullen College of Engineering, University of Houston. My research focuses on the safety, security, and resilience of civil infrastructure systems.

My group develops data-driven and AI-enabled methods for infrastructure design, construction, operation, maintenance, and decision support. Recent work spans transportation asset management, critical infrastructure cybersecurity, autonomous systems, resilience analytics, and construction automation.

Openings: We have research openings for Ph.D., Master and Undergraduate students.

Research Sponsors

  • U.S. Department of Transportation
  • Federal Highway Administration
  • National Science Foundation
  • National Institute of Standards and Technology
  • Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
  • Texas Department of Transportation
  • Transportation Research Board (NCHRP and TCRP)
  • Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board
  • Fluor Corporation

Recent Funded Projects

  • PI: CyberCARE Houston: A Regional Workforce Alliance for Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity — NIST, 2026–2028
  • PI: Confined Space Hazard Recognition and Prevention in Petrochemical Construction — OSHA, 2026–2027
  • PI: Performance Models for Preventive Maintenance Treatments — TxDOT, 2025–2027
  • Co-PI: Cybersecurity Assessment for Public Transportation Agencies — TCRP, 2025–2027
  • PI: CyberSTAR: CyberTraining for Secure Transportation and Reliable Autonomy — NSF, 2025–2028
  • Co-PI: Transportation Cybersecurity Center for Advanced Research and Education (CYBER-CARE) — USDOT, 2023–2028
  • PI: Hazard and Vulnerability Prioritization for Texas Bridges and Tunnels — TxDOT, 2025–2026
  • PI: Increase Awareness and Use of Transportation Nature-Based Solutions — TxDOT, 2025–2026
  • PI: Analysis Method for Identifying Candidate Pavement Safety Improvement Projects — TxDOT, 2023–2026

Recent Publications

Full list →
  • Zhan, Z., Gao, L., and Han, Z. (2026). Distributionally robust risk-aware optimization for predictive bridge intervention planning. Computer-Aided Civil and Infrastructure Engineering, 100154.
  • Gottimukkala, S. V., Gao, L., Gharaibeh, N., Tarnini, Y., Talebzadeh, M., Kutela, B., and Katale, T. S. (2026). Integrating pavement condition records with LLM-based crash narrative analysis for pavement safety assessment. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 234, 108609.
  • Wang, K., Lim, G. J., Race, B., Zhang, Y. J., Gao, L., and Qiao, F. G. (2025). Examining spatial patterns and economic interactions of logistics activities across three Texas metropolitan areas. Journal of Transport Geography, 123, 104079.
  • Sun, J., Murphy, M. R., Hazlett, D., Shuai, C., and Gao, L. (2025). Simulation-based framework for predicting construction workforce demand: A comparative analysis with multivariate LSTM-based Seq2Seq model. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 151(6), 04025049.
  • Chenchu, C. G., Kim, K., Gao, L., and Din, Z. U. (2025). Signals vs. videos: Advancing motion intention recognition for human-robot collaboration in construction. International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction (ISARC).
  • Gao, L., Liu, Y., Chen, H., Liu, D., Zhang, Y., and Sun, J. (2025). Exploring traffic simulation and cybersecurity strategies using large language models. IEEE Security and Privacy Workshops (SPW), 346–351.