{"id":2569,"date":"2009-05-13T11:06:23","date_gmt":"2009-05-13T15:06:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=2569"},"modified":"2025-10-17T15:53:02","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T19:53:02","slug":"bridging-nations-through-stronger-structures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/bridging-nations-through-stronger-structures\/","title":{"rendered":"Bridging Nations Through Stronger Structures"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"450\" height=\"338\" class=\" size-full img-fluid wp-image-2572\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2009\/05\/engineering.jpg\" alt=\"Necati Catbas\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2009\/05\/engineering.jpg 450w, https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2009\/05\/engineering-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2009\/05\/engineering-360x270.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\"><\/noscript><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"450\" height=\"338\" class=\" size-full img-fluid wp-image-2572 lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20450%20338%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" alt=\"Necati Catbas\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%22http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%22%20viewBox%3D%220%200%20450%20338%22%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E 450w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2009\/05\/engineering.jpg 450w, https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2009\/05\/engineering-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2009\/05\/engineering-360x270.jpg 360w\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2009\/05\/engineering.jpg\"><br>\nEarthquakes are to Turkey what hurricanes are to Florida. So when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/expert\/necati-catbas\/\">Necati Catbas<\/a> elected to study <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/engineering\/\">engineering<\/a> in his hometown of Istanbul, it is not surprising that he was particularly interested in protecting buildings from such powerful natural forces.<\/p>\n<p>In 2008, Associate Professor Catbas was inducted into the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-celebrates-science-and-research-at-annual-millionaires-event\/\">UCF Millionaires Club<\/a> for receiving more than $1 million in research funding. His biggest single award ($855,259) is leading to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/engineering\/ai-infrared-bridge-inspections\/\">new tools to better predict the strength and lifespan of existing bridge<\/a>s and make the bridges of the future even stronger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Earthquakes are to Turkey what hurricanes are to Florida. So when Necati Catbas elected to study engineering in his hometown of Istanbul, it is not surprising that he was particularly interested in protecting buildings from such powerful natural forces. In 2008, Associate Professor Catbas was inducted into the UCF Millionaires Club for receiving more than $1 million in research funding.&hellip;","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":2570,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[1566,54299,14916],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-2569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-engineering","tag-necati-catbas","tag-research"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.3 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Bridging Nations Through Stronger Structures | University of Central Florida News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Earthquakes are to Turkey what hurricanes are to Florida. So when Necati Catbas elected to study engineering in his hometown of Istanbul, it is not\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/bridging-nations-through-stronger-structures\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bridging Nations Through Stronger Structures\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Earthquakes are to Turkey what hurricanes are to Florida. So when Necati Catbas elected to study engineering in his hometown of Istanbul, it is not\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/bridging-nations-through-stronger-structures\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"University of Central Florida News | UCF Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/UCF\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-05-13T15:06:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-17T19:53:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/20\/files\/2009\/05\/supercomputer.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"338\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michelle Fuentes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UCF\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Michelle Fuentes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/bridging-nations-through-stronger-structures\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/bridging-nations-through-stronger-structures\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Michelle Fuentes\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/88927b62de7d409412b002b8ca5f9e0e\"},\"headline\":\"Bridging Nations Through Stronger Structures\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-05-13T15:06:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-17T19:53:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/bridging-nations-through-stronger-structures\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":91,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/bridging-nations-through-stronger-structures\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/20\\\/files\\\/2009\\\/05\\\/supercomputer.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"engineering\",\"Necati Catbas\",\"Research\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Research\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2009\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/bridging-nations-through-stronger-structures\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/bridging-nations-through-stronger-structures\\\/\",\"name\":\"Bridging Nations Through Stronger Structures | University of Central Florida News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/bridging-nations-through-stronger-structures\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/bridging-nations-through-stronger-structures\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/blogs.dir\\\/20\\\/files\\\/2009\\\/05\\\/supercomputer.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-05-13T15:06:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-17T19:53:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/88927b62de7d409412b002b8ca5f9e0e\"},\"description\":\"Earthquakes are to Turkey what hurricanes are to Florida. 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