The Grainger College of Engineering

Eun Jeong Cha

Eun Jeong Cha
Eun Jeong Cha
  • Associate Professor
(217) 244-8343
2207 Newmark Civil Engineering Building

For More Information

Education

  • Ph.D., Civil Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2012
  • M.S., Civil Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009
  • B.S., Architectural Engineering, Seoul National University, 2006

Biography

Eun Jeong Cha is an Associate Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her research advances probabilistic and risk-informed approaches to improve the safety, reliability, and climate resilience of civil infrastructure systems.

Her work focuses on modeling nonstationary hazards under climate change, hurricane wind and flood risk assessment, infrastructure interdependencies, and equity-informed infrastructure decision-making. By integrating structural reliability methods, machine learning, and socio-economic impact modeling, her research supports the development of risk-informed design and infrastructure planning strategies in a changing climate.

Dr. Cha received her Ph.D. from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She has published extensively in leading journals such as Risk Analysis, Structural Safety, Natural Hazards Review, and Journal of Structural Engineering, and serves on ASCE committees including the ASCE 7 Load Combination Subcommittee and the Committee on Adaptation to a Changing Climate.

Academic Positions

  • Associate Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Civil and Environmental Engineering, 8/2022-present
  • Assistant Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Civil and Environmental Engineering, 1/2014-8/2022
  • Part-time Researcher, Georgia Institute of Technology, Mechanical Engineering, 9/2013-12/2013
  • Postdoctoral Researcher, Georgia Institute of Technology, Civil and Environmental Engineering, 8/2012-8/2013
  • Part-time Instructor, Georgia Institute of Technology, Civil and Environmental Engineering, 1/2012-12/2013

Research Interests

  • Decision Science for Infrastructure Risk Management - Application of decision theory, risk aversion modeling, and multi-objective optimization to support infrastructure planning under uncertainty. This research bridges engineering reliability analysis with behavioral and economic decision frameworks to improve transparent and defensible risk management strategies.
  • Equity and Social Dimensions of Infrastructure Risk - Quantification of unequal hazard impacts and service disruptions across socially vulnerable populations. This work develops high-resolution equity metrics and decision-support tools to guide socially informed infrastructure prioritization and climate adaptation strategies.
  • Holistic Risk Assessment of Interdependent Infrastructure Systems - Integrated modeling of physical infrastructure networks and socio-economic systems to evaluate cascading impacts, recovery trajectories, and interdependencies under natural hazards such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and landslides. Emphasis is placed on system-level resilience and community functionality.
  • Climate-Dependent Hazard and Load Modeling - Modeling nonstationary structural loads associated with climate change, including hurricane winds, flooding, and compound hazards. This research develops stochastic and machine learning-based approaches to quantify how evolving climate conditions alter future risk profiles.
  • Target Reliability and Safety Optimization - Optimization of structural safety levels through reliability-based calibration methods that integrate societal risk preferences, economic consequences, and community-level objectives. This research informs rational safety targets and supports the advancement of performance-based and risk-consistent design practices.
  • Risk-Informed Design and Infrastructure Resilience - Development of probabilistic and risk-informed frameworks for the design, retrofit, and lifecycle management of buildings and infrastructure systems. This work advances reliability-based approaches that explicitly account for uncertainty, extreme hazards, and long-term performance under changing environmental conditions.

Research Areas

Chapters in Books

  • Cha, E.J. & Vickery, P. CH11 - Reliability Basis of Wind Design Loads, In ASCE 7-22 Load Combinations Subcommittee. (2025, September). Structural Reliability Guidance in Asce 7-22: Principles and Methods. Reston, VA: American Society of Civil Engineers.
  • Cha, E.J. & Wang, Y. (2015) “CH16 - Risk-Informed Decision Framework for Built Environment: The Incorporation of Epistemic Uncertainty,” In Gardoni, P., Murphy, C. & Rowell, A. (Eds.), Risk Analysis of Natural Hazards - Interdisciplinary Challenges and Integrated Solutions (pp.279-296). Switzerland:Springer.

Selected Articles in Journals

  • Beck, A.L., Cha, E.J. & Peacock, W.G. (2025) “Development of an Equity Metric for Infrastructure Service Performance Assessment,” Risk Analysis, 45(11), 3899-3914,  DOI: 10.1111/risa.70126.
  • Song, B., Jiang, Y. & Cha, E.J. (2025) "Impact of Strengthening Residential Buildings Based on Future Hurricane Risks in a Changing Climate," Natural Hazards Review, 26(4), 04025049.
  • Lin, C.-Y. & Cha, E.J. (2025) “Evaluating the impact of climate change on hurricane wind risk: A machine learning approach,” Risk Analysis, DOI: 10.1111/risa.70042.
  • Beck, A.L., Talebiyan, H., Cha, E.J., & Duenas-Osorio, L. (2025) "Socially-Aware Retrofit Prioritization for Utility Networks: Integrating Network Performance and Social Impact Considerations." Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure, DOI: 10.1080/23789689.2025.2471130.
  • Nofal, O.M., Rosenheim, N., Kameshwar, S., Patil, J., Zhou, X., van de Lindt, J.W., Duenas-Osorio, L., Cha, E.J., Enderami, S.A., Sutley, E., Cutler, H., Jeon, H., Lu, T., Wang, C. (2025) "Methodology for Interdependent Population-Building-Infrastructure Posthazard Functionality Assessment for Communities." Journal of Structural Engineering; 151(5). DOI: 10.1061/JSENDH.STENG-1322.
  • Nofal, O.M., Rosenheim, N., Kameshwar, S., Patil, J., Zhou, X., van de Lindt, J.W., Duenas-Osorio, L., Cha, E.J., Enderami, S.A., Sutley, E., Cutler, H., Lu, T., Wang, C. & Jeon, H. (2023) "Community-Level Post-Hazard Functionality Methodology for Buildings Exposed to Flooding." Computer-Aided Civil and Infrastructure Engineering; 39(8):1099-1122. DOI: 10.1111/mice.13135.
  • Pant, S. & Cha, E.J. (2022) "Projection of future hurricane risk in changing climate considering population vulnerability." Shore & Beach; 3-13. DOI: 10.34237/1009041.
  • Sun, M. & Cha, E.J. (2022) "Probabilistic building functionality estimation model for low-rise wooden residential buildings subjected to hurricane winds," Journal of Structural Engineering; 148(10):04022147, DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)ST.1943-541X.0003411.
  • Beck, A.L. & Cha, E.J. (2022) "Probabilistic Disaster Social Impact Assessment of Infrastructure System Nodes." Structure and Infrastructure Engineering; 1-12, DOI:10.1080/15732479.2022.2097268.
  • Kim, C., Cha, E.J. & Shin, M. (2022) "Seismic Performance Assessment of NPP Concrete Containments Considering Recent Ground Motions in South Korea," Nuclear Engineering and Technology (In press; DOI:10.1016/j.net.2021.07.035).
  • He, X. & Cha, E.J. (2021) "Risk-Informed Decision Making for Pre-Disaster Risk Mitigation Planning of Interdependent Infrastructure Systems: A Case Study of Jamaica," Journal of Infrastructure Systems (Accepted; DOI:10.1061/(ASCE)IS.1943-555X.0000634).
  • Gudipati, V.K. & Cha, E.J. (2021) "Target reliability index optimization framework for multiple building classes based on community-level objectives," Structural Safety 91:102097, DOI:10.1016/j.strusafe.2021.102097.
  • He, X. & Cha, E.J. (2021) "State of the Research on Disaster Risk Management of Interdependent Infrastructure Systems for Community Resilience Planning," Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure, DOI:10.1080/23789689.2020.1871541.
  • Gudipati, V.K. & Cha, E.J. (2021) "Surrogate modeling for structural response prediction of a building class," Structural Safety 89:102041, DOI:10.1016/j.strusafe.2020.102041.
  • Lin, C.-Y. & Cha, E.J. (2021) "Hurricane freshwater flood risk assessment model for residential buildings in the Southeastern US coastal states considering climate change," Natural Hazards Review 22(2):04020061, DOI:10.1061/(ASCE)NH.1527-6996.0000442.
  • Lin, C.-Y. & Cha, E.J. (2020) "Hurricane risk assessment for residential buildings in the Southeastern US coastal region in changing climate conditions using artificial neural networks," Natural Hazards Review 21(3):04020024, DOI:10.1061/(ASCE)NH.1527-6996.0000390.
  • He, X. & Cha, E.J. (2020) "DIN II: Incorporation of multi-level interdependencies and uncertainty for infrastructure systems recovery modeling," Structure and Infrastructure Engineering, DOI:10.1080/15732479.2020.1817104.
  • Samara, K., Cha, E.J. & LaFave, J. (2019) "Probabilistic modeling and fragility assessment of limestone wall tie connections subjected to wind loads," Journal of Building Engineering 26:100884, DOI:10.1016/j.jobe.2019.100884.
  • Gudipati, V.K. & Cha, E.J. (2019) "A framework for optimization of target reliability index for a building class based on aggregated cost," Structural Safety 81:101873, DOI:10.1016/j.strusafe.2019.101873.
  • Pant, S. & Cha, E.J. (2019) "Potential changes in hurricane risk profile across the United States coastal regions under climate change scenarios," Structural Safety 80:56-65, DOI:10.1016/j.strusafe.2019.05.003.
  • Pant, S. & Cha, E.J. (2019) "Wind and rainfall loss assessment for residential buildings under climate-dependent hurricane scenarios," Structure and Infrastructure Engineering 15(6):771-782, DOI:10.1080/15732479.2019.1572199.
  • Cha, E.J. & Ellingwood, B.R. (2018) "The relation between cost-benefit analysis and risk acceptance in regulatory decision-making," International Journal of Risk Assessment and Management 21(1):44-62, DOI:10.1504/IJRAM.2019.096688.
  • He, X. & Cha, E.J. (2018) "Modeling the damage and recovery of interdependent critical infrastructure systems from natural hazards," Reliability Engineering and System Safety 177:162-175, DOI:10.1016/j.ress.2018.04.029.
  • He, X. & Cha, E.J. (2018) "Modeling the Damage and Recovery of Interdependent Civil Infrastructure Network Using Dynamic Integrated Network Model," Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure 5(3):152-167, DOI:10.1080/23789689.2018.1448662.
  • Pant, S. & Cha, E.J. (2018) "Effect of climate change on hurricane damage and loss for residential buildings in Miami-Dade County," Journal of Structural Engineering 144(6):04018057, DOI:10.1061/(ASCE)ST.1943-541X.0002038.
  • Cha, E.J. (2018) "Discrepancy in the perceived hurricane risks in changing climate," Natural Hazards Review 19(2):04018002, DOI:10.1061/(ASCE)NH.1527-6996.0000284.
  • Shafieezadeh, A., Cha, E.J. & Ellingwood, B.R. (2014) "A decision framework for managing risk to infrastructure systems from terrorist attack," Risk Analysis 35(2):292-306, DOI:10.1111/risa.12266.
  • Cha, E.J. & Ellingwood, B.R. (2014) "Attitudes toward acceptance of risk to buildings from extreme winds," Structure and Infrastructure Engineering 10(6):697-707, DOI:10.1080/15732479.2012.758642.
  • Cha, E.J. & Ellingwood, B.R. (2013) "The role of risk aversion in nuclear plant safety decisions," Structural Safety 44:28-36, DOI:10.1016/j.strusafe.2013.05.002.
  • Cha, E.J. & Ellingwood, B.R. (2013) "Seismic risk mitigation of building structures: the role of risk aversion," Structural Safety 40:11-19, DOI:10.1016/j.strusafe.2012.06.004.
  • Cha, E.J. & Ellingwood, B.R. (2012) "Risk-averse decision-making for civil infrastructure exposed to low-probability, high-consequence events," Reliability Engineering and System Safety 104:27-35, DOI:10.1016/j.ress.2012.04.002.

Articles in Conference Proceedings

  • Cha, E.J., Beck, A.L., Shaffer, E. & Paquette, L. "Work-In-Progress: What Goes into an Engineering Decision: An Infrastructure Decision-Making Game for Exploratory Equity Learning - Phase 3 Video Game Version Development," The ASEE 2025 Annual Conference and Exposition, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, June, 2025. 
  • Beck, A.L., Cha, E.J., Paquette, L. & Shaffer, E. "Work-In-Progress: What Goes into an Engineering Decision: An Infrastructure Decision-Making Game for Exploratory Equity Learning - Phase 2 Multiple Stakeholders," The ASEE 2024 Annual Conference and Exposition, Portland, OR, June, 2024.
  • Beck, A.L. & Cha, E.J. "Work-In-Progress: What Goes into an Engineering Decision: An Infrastructure Decision-Making Game for Exploratory Equity Learning," The ASEE 2023 Annual Conference and Exposition, Baltimore, MD, June, 2023.
  • Song, B., Jiang, Y. & Cha, E.J. "Impact of risk mitigation strategies on future hurricane risk of residential buildings in changing climate," The 14th International Conference on Applications of Statistics and Probability in Civil Engineering (ICASP14), Dublin, Ireland, July, 2023.
  • Beck, A.L., Cha, E.J. & Peacock, W.G. "Incorporation of Equity into Infrastructure Decision-Making: Development of an Equity Metric for Infrastructure Retrofitting," The 14th International Conference on Applications of Statistics and Probability in Civil Engineering (ICASP14), Dublin, Ireland, July, 2023.
  • Beck, A.L., Talebiyan, H., Duenas-Osorio, L. & Cha, E.J. "Comparative nodal retrofit prioritization schemes for electric power network," The 8th International Symposium on Reliability Engineering and Risk Management, Hannover, Germany, September, 2022.
  • Sun, M. & Cha, E.J. "Probabilistic building functionality estimation model for low-rise wooden residential buildings subjected to hurricane winds," The 13th International Conference on Structural Safety and Reliability (ICOSSAR 2021), Shanghai, China, September, 2022.
  • Beck, A.L. & Cha, E.J. "Quantifying disaster impact at an interdependent infrastructure system scale," The 13th International Conference on Structural Safety and Reliability (ICOSSAR 2021), Shanghai, China, September, 2022.
  • Lin, C.-Y. & Cha, E.J. "Hurricane Wind and Freshwater Flood Risk Assessment Considering Climate Change: Application of Artificial Neural Networks," The 13th International Conference on Structural Safety and Reliability (ICOSSAR 2021), Shanghai, China, September 2022.
  • Lin, C.-Y. & Cha, E.J. "Impact of Climate Change to Hurricane Loss to the Gulf Coast of the US," The 13th International Conference on Applications of Statistics and Probability in Civil Engineering (ICASP), Seoul, South Korea, May, 2019.
  • Gudipati, V.K. & Cha, E.J. "A resilience-based framework for design optimization of interdependent buildings," The 13th International Conference on Applications of Statistics and Probability in Civil Engineering (ICASP), Seoul, South Korea, May, 2019.
  • Gudipati, V.K. & Cha, E.J. "Optimization of target safety levels based on community-level objectives," The 13th International Conference on Applications of Statistics and Probability in Civil Engineering (ICASP), Seoul, South Korea, May, 2019.
  • Pant, S. & Cha, E.J. "Variation of hurricane losses across US coast under changing climate," The 13th International Conference on Applications of Statistics and Probability in Civil Engineering (ICASP), Seoul, South Korea, May, 2019.
  • Pant, S. & Cha, E.J. "Wind and rainfall loss evaluation for climate-dependent hurricane scenarios," The 13th International Conference on Applications of Statistics and Probability in Civil Engineering (ICASP), Seoul, South Korea, May, 2019.
  • He, X. & Cha, E.J. "A Game Theory-Based Decision Framework for Post-disaster Recovery Planning of Interdependent Infrastructure Systems," The 13th International Conference on Applications of Statistics and Probability in Civil Engineering (ICASP), Seoul, South Korea, May, 2019.
  • He, X. & Cha, E.J. "A Decision Framework for Pre-disaster Risk Mitigation Planning of Interdependent Infrastructure Systems," The 13th International Conference on Applications of Statistics and Probability in Civil Engineering (ICASP), Seoul, South Korea, May, 2019.
  • He, X. & Cha, E.J. "Modeling the Post-disaster Recovery of Interdependent Civil Infrastructure Network," The 13th International Conference on Applications of Statistics and Probability in Civil Engineering (ICASP), Seoul, South Korea, May, 2019.
  • He, X. & Cha, E.J. (2016)"Resilience and Dependency Modeling of Critical Civil Infrastructures Using Graph Theory and Dynamic Inoperability Input-Output Model," Probabilistic Mechanics and Reliability 2016 Conference (PMC 2016), Vanderbilt University, May 22-26, 2016.
  • Cha, E.J., Shafieezadeh, A. & Ellingwood, B.R. (2013) "A risk informed decision framework for risk management of infrastructure systems against terrorist attacks," Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Structural Safety & Reliability (ICOSSAR), New York, June, 2013.
  • Cha, E.J. & Ellingwood, B.R. (2013) "Quantification of risk aversion in decisions related to safety of nuclear power plants," Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Structural Safety & Reliability (ICOSSAR), New York, June, 2013.
  • Cha, E.J. & Ellingwood, B.R. (2013) "Acceptance of risk due to competing wind and earthquake hazards," Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Structural Safety & Reliability (ICOSSAR), New York, June, 2013.
  • Cha, E.J. & Ellingwood, B.R. (2012) "Attitudes toward acceptance of risk to wood frame residential buildings from hurricanes," Proceedings of the 2012 Joint Conference of the Engineering Mechanics Institute and the 11th ASCE Joint Specialty Conference on Probabilistic Mechanics and Structural Reliability Conference (EMI/PMC2012), Notre Dame, June, 2012.
  • Cha, E.J. & Ellingwood, B.R. (2012) "Risk-aversion in decisions regarding seismic retrofit of unreinforced masonry buildings," Proceedings of the 2012 Joint Conference of the Engineering Mechanics Institute and the 11th ASCE Joint Specialty Conference on Probabilistic Mechanics and Structural Reliability Conference (EMI/PMC2012), Notre Dame, June, 2012.
  • Cha, E.J. & Ellingwood, B.R. (2011) "Decision-making for Civil Infrastructure Exposed to Low-probability, High-consequence Hazards: the Role of Risk-Aversion," Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Applications of Statistics and Probability in Civil Engineering (ICASP), Zurich, Switzerland, August, 2011.

Journal Editorships

  • Guest Editor, Special Issue on Climate Adaptation and Resilience for Buildings and Infrastructure, Natural Hazards Review.
  • Editorial Board, Structural Safety

Professional Societies

  • Member, ASCE 7-28 Future Conditions Subcommittee, 2023-present
  • Member, ASCE 7-28 Wind Load Subcommittee, 2023-present
  • Member, ASCE 7-28 Load Combination Subcommittee, 2023-present
  • Member, ASCE 7-28 Main Committee, 2023-present
  • Associate Member, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), 2014-present
  • Member, ASCE 7-22 Load Combination Subcommittee (LCSC), 2017-2022
  • Secretary, ASCE Committee on Adaptation to a Changing Climate (CACC) Executive Committee, 2023-2025
  • Vice Chair, ASCE Committee on Adaptation to a Changing Climate (CACC) Executive Committee, 2026-present

Service on College Committees

  • The Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering (WYSE) Summer camp (2024)
  • The Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering (WYSE) Summer camp (2023) - EYO & DE
  • The Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering (WYSE) Summer camp (2022)

Service to Federal and State Government

  • DOE SERDP Proposal Review Panel
  • NSF Proposal Review Panel

Other Outside Service

  • Journal Referee, Earth's Future - 2021
  • Journal Referee, Communications Engineering - 2024, 2025
  • Journal Referee, Earthquake Spectra - 2019
  • Journal Referee, Natural Hazards - 2021
  • Journal Referee, Infrastructure Complexity - 2016
  • Journal Referee, Journal of Infrastructure Systems - 2017, 2019, 2022, 2024
  • Journal Referee, Water Resources Research - 2016
  • Journal Referee, Applied Geography - 2014
  • Journal Referee, Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities - 2015
  • Journal Referee, Frontiers in Built Environment - 2021
  • Journal Referee, Journal of Engineering Mechanics - 2014, 2015
  • Journal Referee, Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems - 2014, 2019
  • Journal Referee, Computer-aided Civil and Infrastructure Engineering - 2014
  • Journal Referee, Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure - 2016, 2017, 2021
  • Journal Referee, Journal of Structure and Infrastructure Engineering - 2014, 2015
  • Journal Referee, Journal of Structural Engineering - 2014-2021
  • Journal Referee, Risk Analysis - 2019-2021
  • Journal Referee, Reliability Engineering and System Safety - 2016, 2021
  • Journal Referee, Natural Hazards Review - 2020, 2021, 2026
  • Journal Referee, Structural Safety - 2012-2026
  • Scientific Committee, the 12th International Conference on Applications of Statistics and Probability in Civil Engineering (ICASP12), Vancouver, Canada.
  • Scientific Committee, the 13th International Conference on Applications of Statistics and Probability in Civil Engineering (ICASP13), Seoul, South Korea.
  • Scientific Committee, the 14th International Conference on Applications of Statistics and Probability in Civil Engineering (ICASP14), Dublin, Ireland.

Teaching Honors

  • List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students (2018 Fall (CEE 574), 2019 Spring (CEE 360), 2021 Spring (CEE 360))
  • Collins Scholar (2015)

Recent Courses Taught

  • CEE 360 - Structural Engineering
  • CEE 498 CC3 (CEE 498 CC4, CEE 498 CCC, CEE 498 CCO) - Choices & Consequences in CEE
  • CEE 574 - Probabilistic Loads and Design

Related News