Henri P. Gavin

Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Henri Gavin's research interests are in the areas of structural dynamics, earthquake engineering, nonlinear dynamics, seismic hazard mitigation for building contents, system identification, the statistical characterization of environmental loads including wind and earthquake, and optimal control with application to systems with controllable damping. 

Dr. Gavin is the director of the Structural Dynamics and Seismic Response Control Laboratory.

Appointments and Affiliations

• Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• W. H. Gardner, Jr. Chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Professor in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
• Faculty Network Member of The Energy Initiative
• Bass Fellow

Contact Information

• Office Location: 162 Hudson Eng Ctr, Durham, NC 27708
• Office Phone: (919) 660-5201
• Websites:
  • Ground Motions
  • Matrix Structural Analysis
  • Rolling Resistance
  • Structural Dynamics
  • System Identification
  • Uncertainty, Design, and Optimization

Education

• Ph.D. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1994
• M.Sc.Eng. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1988
• B.S.E. Princeton University, 1986

Research Interests

Structural dynamics, earthquake engineering, seismic hazard mitigation for building contents, nonlinear dynamics, system identification, optimal control with application to systems with controllable damping.

Awards, Honors, and Distinctions

• Earl I Brown II Outstanding Civil Engineering Faculty Award. Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering. 2013
• President's Award. New Zealand Society for Earthquake Engineering. 2010
• Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award (ADUTA). Duke University. 2008
• ASEE Southeast Mid-Career Teaching Award. American Society for Engineering Education. 2007
• Klein Family Teaching Award. School of Engineering. 2006
• Walter L. Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize. American Society of Civil Engineers. 2005
• Japan Society for the Promotion of Sciences, fellowship. JSPS. 2002
• Packard Grant Finalist. Packard Foundation. 1997
• Early CAREER award. National Science Foundation. 1996
• Junior Faculty Enhancement Award. Oak Ridge Associated Universities. 1996

Courses Taught

• CEE 201L: Uncertainty Design and Optimization
• CEE 293: Research Independent Study in Civil and Environmental Engineering
• CEE 294: Research Independent Study in Civil and Environmental Engineering
• CEE 393: Research Independent Study in Civil and Environmental Engineering
• CEE 394: Research Independent Study in Civil and Environmental Engineering
• CEE 493: Research Independent Study in Civil and Environmental Engineering
• CEE 494: Research Independent Study in Civil and Environmental Engineering
• CEE 691: Independent Study: Advanced Topics in Civil and Environmental Engineering
• CEE 692: Independent Study: Advanced Topics in Civil and Environmental Engineering
• ECE 291: Projects in Electrical and Computer Engineering
• EGR 201L: Mechanics of Solids
• EGR 393: Research Projects in Engineering
• ISS 395T: Bass Connections Information, Society & Culture Research Team
• ISS 396T: Bass Connections Information, Society & Culture Research Team
• ISS 795T: Bass Connections Information, Society & Culture Research Team
• ISS 796T: Bass Connections Information, Society & Culture Research Team
• ME 591: Research Independent Study in Mechanical Engineering or Material Science
• ME 592: Research Independent Study in Mechanical Engineering or Material Science
• MENG 550: Master of Engineering Internship/Project
• MENG 551: Master of Engineering Internship/Project Assessment
• MENG 552: Master of Engineering Supplemental Internship

In the News

• New Master of Engineering Program will Create a ‘Climate Innovation’ Culture (May 31, 2023 | Pratt School of Engineering)
• Turkey’s Fate Was Sealed by Failures – Both Structural and Political, Experts Say (Feb 17, 2023 | Duke Today)
• Tensegrity Tower Rises Behind Hudson Hall (May 9, 2017 | Pratt School of Engineering)

Representative Publications

• Zhang, B; Gavin, HP, Computationally Efficient Tracking Control of Differential Drive Wheeled Mobile Robots, Proceedings of the American Control Conference, vol 2023-May (2023), pp. 891-896 [10.23919/ACC55779.2023.10156242] [abs].
• Zhang, B; Gavin, HP, Decentralized Control of Multiagent Navigation Systems, Ieee/Caa Journal of Automatica Sinica, vol 9 no. 5 (2022), pp. 922-925 [10.1109/JAS.2022.105569] [abs].
• Zhang, B; Gavin, HP, Gauss's Principle with Inequality Constraints for Multiagent Navigation and Control, Ieee Transactions on Automatic Control, vol 67 no. 2 (2022), pp. 810-823 [10.1109/TAC.2021.3059677] [abs].
• Zhang, B; Gavin, HP, Unified Position-Attitude Control of A Nonlinear Quadrotor Swarm, Proceedings of the American Control Conference, vol 2022-June (2022), pp. 4030-4035 [10.23919/ACC53348.2022.9867205] [abs].
• Zhang, B; Gavin, HP, Decentralized Unified Position-Attitude Control of Nonlinear UAVs, Proceedings of the Ieee Conference on Decision and Control, vol 2022-December (2022), pp. 5214-5219 [10.1109/CDC51059.2022.9992624] [abs].