---
title: "SMILab research assistant receives national recognition"
description: "UNM Civil Engineering Ph.D. student and Graduate Research Assistant at the Smart Management of Infrastructure Laboratory (SMILab) Roya Nasimi has been awarded second place in the American Society of Civil Engineers…"
type: News
tags:
  - News
date: "2020-06"
generated:
  by: "process:scripts/port_legacy_pages.py"
  at: "2026-09-10T00:00:00Z"
sources:
  - id: carc-web
    resource: "https://carc.unm.edu/news--events/News/smilab-research-assistant-receives-national-recognition.html"
    title: "SMILab research assistant receives national recognition (carc.unm.edu)"
    author: "team:unm-carc"
---

# SMILab research assistant receives national recognition

<p class="carc-byline">June 2020</p>

UNM Civil Engineering Ph.D. student and Graduate Research Assistant at the
[Smart Management of Infrastructure
Laboratory](http://smilab.unm.edu/){target=_blank} (SMILab) Roya Nasimi has
been awarded second place in the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
EMI-Structural Health Monitoring and Control (SHMC) Committee’s annual
[Student Paper
Competition](https://www.asce.org/engineering-mechanics/news/20200610-emi-shmc-student-paper-competition/){target=_blank}.

![](/assets/smilab-nasimi-national-recognition-roya-award.jpeg)

Nasimi’s paper, titled *Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) Equipped with Lasers,
Cameras, and Algorithms Measuring Bridges Condition under Trains*, detailed
her design and algorithm for a drone that uses sensors to monitor bridges.
Using drones to inspect bridges for damage eliminates the safety risks
associated with in-person inspections.

The project, which began in January of 2019, was funded by the National
Academy of Sciences in the Transportation Research Board Rail SAFETY IDEA
program and involved contributions from a variety of UNM students and faculty
including her advisor, Assistant Professor Fernando Moreu, and coauthors
Nicolas Cobo and Jorshua Diaz.

Nasimi writes, “. . . throughout the project I presented my work to my
project’s expert review panel members (ERP) and got their insights, feedback
and guides to form the next steps of the project. My advisor, Dr. Moreu, was
my main source and guide. Beside that, I’ve been working with students from
[the Electrical and Computer Engineering] Department during tests that I
conducted in their laboratory. I’ve been working with two electrical
engineering interns last summer and other SMILab members helped me during the
experiments. I thank everyone for their support and help.”

Moreu shares his thoughts on the project, writing, “The ASCE SHMC Committee
engages the national and international researchers and practitioners in the
broad fields of structural health monitoring and control and it is recognized
as highly competitive. Roya worked together with Jorshua and Nicholas who had
received a competitive Department of Energy Fellowship that brought them to
work with us in CARC last summer. I believe it is worth recognizing that CARC
and UNM supports multidisciplinary research like this one, which enables our
students to be more creative in their research projects, build new
experiments, try them out, obtain new results, which will have a higher impact
in their respective careers.”

CARC resources were used to develop the algorithm for the drones. Nasimi
reports, “My research has a major computer vision component which means [there
is a] need for computational speed and capabilities. So far, I have been
relying on CARC for my testbed algorithm development and testing.”

Nasimi further comments, “The recognition of [this] work by the leaders and
SHM community made me honored. I really appreciate the excellence of the work
of all the finalists [who] presented in the competition. Being second place
motivates me to pursue my research with more dedication and conduct more
interdisciplinary works.”

To find out more about Nasimi’s work, see [*Engineering student uses
technology to examine aging
infrastructure*](https://news.unm.edu/news/engineering-student-uses-technology-to-examine-aging-infrastructure){target=_blank}*,
*and [*UNM researchers using drones to examine aging
bridges*](https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/unm-researchers-using-drones-to-examine-aging-bridges/){target=_blank}.