Biography
Seung Jae Lee is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, where he also currently serves as the Undergraduate Program Director. His expertise spans structural, geotechnical, and computational engineering, complemented by prior professional experience as a façade designer and engineer at the LG Industrial Materials Research Institute in Korea. Dr. Lee earned his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, with a focus on Computational Mechanics, an M.S. in Structural Engineering from the same institution, and a B.S. in Architectural Engineering from Sungkyunkwan University.
His research focuses on advanced computational methods for investigating mechanics across multiple scales, with particular emphasis on elucidating the fundamental mechanisms governing the complex behavior of discrete systems and materials. These systems, composed of interacting discrete bodies such as soils, concrete, powders, and even pedestrian crowds, are central to a wide range of scientific and engineering applications. To address these challenges, Dr. Lee develops computational models and tools that integrate theoretical formulations, numerical algorithms, and hardware acceleration. His work leverages artificial intelligence and high-performance computing to enable new paradigms for the analysis and design of discrete systems and materials. Beyond conventional simulation frameworks, Dr. Lee also explores the use of physics engines originally developed for video games (such as Angry Birds) to achieve scalable simulations that link particle-scale physics with system-level performance.
Education
- Ph.D., Civil Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 2014