Case Summary:

A postdoctoral researcher in the field of civil engineering from China came to us this year to seek help with his NIW case. Since we have thousands of case approvals, our firm is uniquely equipped to aid clients in their case preparation and approval procedures. So, when we heard that our client’s proposed endeavor is to continue his work on developing advanced algorithms and calculation methods for seismic evaluation and structural risk assessment, we were already certain we had a winner. His work was directed towards identifying, predicting, and mitigating structural risk for buildings and infrastructures.

Preparing his case, we went through his documents and identified that his research is of great importance for modern structures. The use of the calculation methods and design techniques introduced in our client’s work allows structures and infrastructure systems to withstand natural or man-made disasters. In this way, his work also prevents injuries and fatalities associated with structural failures. Thus, one of his recommenders had the following to say of his work:

“[The client’s] accomplishments have greatly advanced the abilities of engineers to adequately assess the compressive and splitting tensile strength of concrete. His use of deep learning methods to more accurately assess concrete strength lessens costs for all phases of concrete-based design and construction. These measurements are not only more accurate, but they are also more time-efficient. [The client’s] methods, therefore, enable safer, less expensive, and more reliable civil engineering practices, which contribute to a sustainable built environment locally and globally.”

On the other hand, due to the clear national importance of his research, he has in fact been supported with funding from The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and has received funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China. He has also been invited to conduct reviews for several national and international journals and has completed at least 7 reviews to date. His research has yielded 10 peer-reviewed journal articles (6 of them first-authored). These publications have been cited a total of 49 times by scholars from all over the world, thereby demonstrating that these publications are widely recognized and relied upon in the field of civil engineering.

Furthermore, he has pursued research directly related to his proposed endeavor of developing seismic evaluation and structural risk assessment methodologies in order to identify, predict, and mitigate structural risk for 7 years. This experience has provided him with the necessary expertise for his proposed future endeavor. And since this proposed endeavor and our client’s overall progress is conducive to the United States, he was awarded the NIW status in a short period of 2 months.

The 4 letters of recommendation were a great help in the process. We utilized them to support his academic and professional performance. One of these recommendations read:

“[The client’s] improvements to existing algorithms allow civil engineers to more quickly and easily calculate both system and component fragility as a part of the same calculation. Furthermore, his progress in methods used to detect and measure damage to bridges is highly accurate and reveals more detailed accounts of damage to bridge structures than was previously feasible. Given [the client’s] many developments for enhanced techniques to calculate fragility and damage to bridges, his exemplary work clearly aligns with the transportation and infrastructure interests of the United States.”

We are proud of having had the opportunity to work with him on this case and our team wishes him all the very best in his future endeavors.