Daniel Rhee (Fed)

Dr. Daniel M. Rhee is a research structural engineer in the Structures Group of the Materials and Structural Systems Division (MSSD). He completed his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), specializing in structural engineering and wind engineering. His dissertation work focused on damage/risk assessment and damage-based near-surface wind speed estimation of tornadoes. He has numerous experiments with post-damage assessment of extreme wind events (e.g., tornadoes, hurricanes) and field deployments collecting in-situ measurements (e.g., wind speed, pressure) of thunderstorms, dust devils, and hurricanes. Before joining NIST, Dr. Rhee worked as a post-doctoral researcher at UIUC, mainly working on developing tools and techniques for automating the wind speed estimation of tornadoes. He was also part of the design of the wind and wave facility for the National Full-scale Testing Infrastructure for Community Hardening in Extreme Wind, Surge, and Wave Events (NICHE) project. 

Dr. Rhee’s present research at NIST involves in advancement of high-rise building design for wind, Performance-Based Wind Design (PBWD), wind-structure interactions, and tornado wind speed estimation. Some of his recent work includes the development of the new Database-Assisted-Design (DAD) software for reinforced concrete/steel-framed tall buildings, wind speed estimation of the 2021 December Quad-state tornado based on residential building damage and treefall pattern, and analysis of change in loading due to vertical wind in the tornado from pressure measurements of low-rise buildings under experimental tornado simulator. He currently serves as a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) 7 Wind-load Subcommittee and Wind Speed Estimation in Tornadoes Subcommittee.