Iris Tien

Leading the Way in Women Engineering Faculty

Number of COE Women Faculty Puts Tech at the Top Nationally

The relatively low proportion of women in academic science and engineering has been the topic of numerous recent books and reports but as Bob Dylan sang “the times they are a changing.”

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Gender diversity has become more valued among college faculty and the College of Engineering has been aggressive in trying to address women’s underrepresentation in the faculty as well as student ranks. The proportion of engineering doctoral degrees earned by women has risen considerably in the past several decades and with it has come opportunities to recruit more women to faculty positions. Today, Tech is the number one producer of women engineers in the country and a leader in female engineering faculty.

Meet some of our “Women in Engineering” faculty members who are changing the world with their research as well as the face of engineering.

Dr. Iris Tien

How would you explain your research?

My research is in creating new ways to model and assess the reliability of complex civil infrastructure systems, including water, energy, communications, and transportation systems. The goal is that flexible and sophisticated models combined with data from a variety of sources will help us make smarter decisions in how we manage these systems so they perform better when bad things happen.

How will the general public benefit from your research?

Infrastructure systems are critical to our everyday lives and to the functioning of society. Taking into account the complexities of these systems, my research will enable these critical systems to better withstand and better recover – in short, be more resilient – under a variety of operating conditions, including infrastructure that is aging and subject to increasing natural and manmade disasters.

What excites you about your research?

I love the ability to think creatively about complex systems. There is both an interesting theoretical side, which is like solving a difficult mathematical puzzle where the pieces are constantly changing, and an important application side to improve the functioning of critical infrastructure for the benefit of society.

What makes you enthusiastic to be at Georgia Tech?

I take an interdisciplinary approach to my research, and Georgia Tech is a great place for this. I have found people to be very open, and in my first year here, I have already collaborated with colleagues within my School, within the College, and across Colleges.