Tianle Duan studies how cities survive disasters. Duan serves as a doctoral student in Purdue Polytechnic’s Bowen School of Construction. He recently earned the Graduate Student Scholar Award from the Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant, and he also published multiple lead-author papers in prestigious journals including Communications Earth & Environment and Communications Sustainability.
How do people adapt their behaviors during extreme events like hurricanes and heatwaves? To answer such questions, Duan has focused his research on how communities and infrastructure systems respond to environmental challenges.
Duan analyzes large-scale datasets across multiple disciplines, including human mobility records, weather and climate data, and infrastructure performance metrics. He uses this information to uncover patterns in how people, infrastructure, and the environment interact.
“My goal is to translate these empirical insights into knowledge that can inform future community adaptation and help build more resilient and sustainable communities,” Duan said.
Engineers must design infrastructure for a changing climate. Duan believes planners must consider how communities actually use these systems under environmental stress.
“I hope to provide evidence that helps engineers, planners, and policymakers make more informed, data-driven decisions,” Duan said. “We want to develop infrastructure systems that are more resilient and equitable.”
Duan recently traveled to the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania to expand his analytical skills. He attended a workshop on high-dimensional data analysis. The event introduced him to advanced statistical methods for real-world engineering problems. He plans to incorporate these new methods into his future research.
“The workshop introduced me to modern statistical approaches that can go beyond identifying these patterns to quantifying uncertainty and informing decisions in complex, uncertain environments,” Duan said.
Qingchun Li, a professor in the Bowen School of Construction, is Duan’s faculty advisor and recently nominated him for university recognition. Duan credits Li and the broader Bowen School environment for his development as an independent researcher.
“Dr. Li has given me tremendous freedom to explore research questions that genuinely interest me,” Duan said. “He also provides valuable guidance on how to develop those ideas into meaningful and rigorous research.”
Duan views his recent awards and publications as milestones rather than endpoints. He plans to pursue a lifelong career in research.
“Research often involves a long process of learning and overcoming challenges,” Duan said. “These accomplishments have given me greater confidence and motivation to continue growing as a researcher and to make a meaningful impact.”
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