Research Interests: Infrastructure Resilience, Uncertainty Quantification, Finite Element Analysis, Machine Learning, Monte Carlo Methods, Bayesian Inference, Performance-Based Engineering
Som is working in the Computational Mechanics and Materials department at Idaho National Laboratory. His research focuses on two themes: (1) Multihazard risk and resilience assessment of infrastructure; and (2) Uncertainty quantification using computationally expensive finite element models. Previously, as a graduate student at Virginia Tech, Som was part of the multi-disciplinary Resilience and Sustainable Buildings team working towards understanding the multiple facets of infrastructure resilience to natural hazards. His Ph.D. thesis focused on the application of Bayesian methods to better characterize earthquakes and their impacts. In association with the RSB team, he also developed finite element models of buildings and simulated their responses under hazard events, and proposed stochastic models for resilience of systems considering multihazards.