Wind Hazard Risk Assessment and Management for Structures

Acknowledgements
First of all, I owe my deepest gratitude to my advisor, Professor Erik Vanmarcke, for his
guidance and support throughout my graduate study at Princeton. This thesis would not
have been possible without his encouragement, insight and patience. It is truly my honor
to be his student, learning from him about risk analysis, scientific field, and even different
global issues. I would also like to thank the other thesis committee members, Professor
Branko Gliˇsić, Professor Elie Bou-Zeid and Professor Maria Garlock, for their valuable
suggestions and insightful comments.
In addition, I gratefully acknowledge financial support for this research, in part through
a grant to Princeton University from Baseline Management Company and in part under a
project entitled “Improved Hurricane Risk Assessment with Links to Earth System Models,”
funded through the Cooperative Institute for Climate Science (CICS) by the U.S. National
Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Thanks are also due to Princeton
Environmental Institute (PEI) for granting me the Program in Science, Technology, and
Environmental Policy (PEI-STEP) Fellowship.
Next, I would like to express my gratitude to Professor Michael Oppenheimer and Pro-
fessor Gregory van der Vink, who serve as my PEI-STEP fellowship advisors. I also need
to give special thanks to Professor Henri Gavin at Duke University. Without his inspi-
ration and guidance during my undergraduate study, I would not have chosen to pursue
my doctoral degree at Princeton University. I am also thankful to Dr. Ning Lin for her
collaboration.
I am very fortunate to have many friends to accompany me throughout my days at
Princeton. Dr. Craig Ferguson, who was my roommate for more than two years, has in-
troduced me to American cooking and the exciting outdoor life. Serdar Selamet, my close
friend since my undergraduate, has been the single person whom I see most and talk most to
in these four and a half years. Raghav Pant, who shares numerous similar viewpoints with
iv