Tayo Opabola, PhD
Assistant Professor
Civil and Environmental Engineering
University of California, Berkeley
I am an Assistant Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of California, Berkeley, USA. Before joining University of California, Berkeley, I was a Senior Research Fellow in Resilience Engineering in the Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering Department at University College London, UK. I was also a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. I received my PhD in Civil Engineering from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. I earned my B.E. (Civil and Industrial Engineering) and M.S. (Structural Engineering) from the Voronezh State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Russia.
Research Interests
My research combines Structural Engineering, Reliability Theory, Statistics, and Hazard Science to solve complex engineering problems affecting civil infrastructure systems. I have extensive experience in large-scale field and laboratory testing of structural components and systems, nonlinear analysis of structures, vulnerability and fragility modeling, multihazard interaction simulation, and building-level and community-level resilience quantification. My research focuses on both developed and developing countries.
News
19 June 26: Tayo Opabola gives a lecture on Sustainable Build Back Better to emergency management experts from Global South.
16 June 26: Our paper on Climate-Informed, Nonstationary Multihazard Design Load Characterization for Performance-Based Evaluation of Coastal Structures is in production in ASCE Natural Hazards Review. Co-author: Yiming Jia and Prof. Amir Aghakouchak (UC Irvine).
12 June 26: Tayo Opabola receives award from the Society of Hellman Fellows.
1 June 26: Our paper on Seismic Performance Evaluation of Reinforced Concrete Shear Walls with Lap Splices is published in ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering. Co-author: Héctor García Matamoros (PhD Student, UC Berkeley, USA).
1 Apr 26: PhD student, Hector Garcia Matamoros, receives the 2026-2027 Stewart C. Watson Memorial Scholarship.
31 March 26: PhD student, Hector Garcia Matamoros, presents research on Advancing Performance-based Seismic Retrofit Design of RC Structures at the 2026 Spring ACI Convention in Chicago.
31 March 26: Tayo Opabola convenes the ACI 369-341 Joint session on seismic repair/retrofit/strengthening of reinforced concrete structures at the 2026 Spring ACI Convention in Chicago.
García Matamoros, H., & Opabola, E. A. (2026). Seismic Performance Evaluation of Reinforced Concrete Shear Walls with Lap Splices. Journal of Structural Engineering, 152(6), 04026057.
Paul, N., Opabola, E., Nurdin, S., Pelupessy, D. C., Damayanti, A., Nurdin, R. R., ... & Galasso, C. (2026). Disaster displacement in context: Household trajectories after the 2018 Central Sulawesi multi-hazard event. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 106202.
Opabola, E. A., Baiguera, M., Raby, A., Rossetto, T., Pomonis, A., Meilianda, E., ... & Marafini, F. (2026). Diagnosing Long-Term Divergence in Build Back Better Outcomes in Low-and Lower-Middle Income Communities. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 106190.
Zhai, J. Y., Galvez, F., Opabola, E. A., Dizhur, D., Hudson, R., & Sommer, D. (2026). Effective Seismic Retrofit of URM Parapets Using Mechanical Anchors as Vertical Reinforcement. Earthquake Spectra, 42(2), e70065.