The Grainger College of Engineering
Civil & Environmental Engineering

Ann Sychterz

Ann Sychterz
Ann Sychterz
  • Faculty Affiliate, Mechanical Science and Engineering
  • Assistant Professor
(217) 244-6148
2122 Newmark Civil Engineering Building

Primary Research Area

  • Structural Engineering

Research Areas

For More Information

Biography

Ann Sychterz (SICK-tesh) obtained her PhD in 2018 from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) addressing the novel use of control algorithms, statistical diagnostic tools, and real-time feedback on a full-scale tensegrity structure to enable smooth deployability, damage detection, adaptation, and learning. During her masters of applied science obtained in 2014 at the University of Waterloo, she built full-scale aluminum pedestrian bridges for vibration characterization and control. She completed a postdoctoral position at the University of Michigan on actuator optimization of adaptive origami structures. With her team at Sychterz Modular Adaptive Resilient Transformable Infrastructure (SMARTI) lab at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, they harness geometrically nonlinear systems, such as tensegrity structures and origami, for adaptive civil infrastructure. She is a faculty affiliate with Mechanical Science and Engineering, faculty fellow of the National Center for Supercomputing Applications and a faculty affiliate of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology in the Autonomous Materials Systems group.

Education

  • Ph.D., Advisor: Ian F.C. Smith. "Biomimetic Adaptive Control of a Deployable Tensgrity Structure". Civil Engineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, 2018.
  • M.A.Sc., Advisors: Sriram Narasimhan and Scott Walbridge. "Vibration Characterization of Aluminum Pedestrian Bridges". Civil Engineering, University of Waterloo, Canada, 2014.
  • B.A.Sc., Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Waterloo, Canada, 2012.

Academic Positions

  • International Visiting Professor, Cluster of Excellence "Integrative Computational Design and Construction for Architecture", University of Stuttgart, 06/2024 - 08/2024
  • Faculty Affiliate, Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 08/2022 - Present
  • Faculty Fellow, ORMIR, Gies College of Business, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 08/2021 - 07/2022
  • Levenick Sustainable Teaching Fellow, Institute for Sustainability Energy and Environment, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 02/2021 - 01/2022
  • Faculty Affiliate, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 10/2020 - Present
  • Faculty Fellow, National Center for Supercomputing Applications, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 07/2020 - Present
  • Assistant Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 01/2020 - Present
  • Postdoctoral Researcher, Advisor: Evgueni Filipov. Civil Engineering, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, 02/2019 - 12/2019

Professional Registrations

  • Licensed Professional Engineer, Province of Ontario, 2024-present

Journal Editorships

  • Guest Editor, ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering Special Collection "Adaptive and intelligent systems in structural engineering". 2022 - 2024.
  • Guest Editor, Frontiers in Built Environment: Structural Sensing, Special Issue Sensor Systems and Resiliency Diagnostics for Spatial Infrastructure". 2021 - 2023.

Professional Societies

  • ASCE ExCEEd, Assistant Mentor, Online, 08/2025.
  • ASCE ExCEEd, Assistant Mentor, Online, 08/2024.
  • ASCE SEI Structural Control and Sensing Technical Committee, Chair, 2023-2026
  • ASCE ExCEEd, Assistant Mentor, Fort Collins, CO, 08/2023.
  • ASCE EMI Experimental Analysis and Instrumentation Technical Committee, Chair, 2023-2026
  • ASCE SEI Younger Members Committee, Vice-Chair, 2023-2024
  • ASCE EMI Structural Health Monitoring Committee, Student Paper Competition Judge and Member, 2022- present
  • ASCE EMI Dynamics, Student Paper Competition Judge and Member, 2022 - present

Other Outside Service

  • Structural Engineers Association of Illinois, Affiliate member, 01/2024 - present.
  • Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering,  Reviewer, 2024 - present.
  • Structures, Reviewer, 2024 - present.
  • Journal of Building Engineering, Reviewer, 2024 - present.
  • Journal of Civil Engineering Education, Reviewer, 2023 - present.
  • International Journal of Space Structures, Reviewer, 2023 - present.
  • ASEE Civil Engineering Division, Member, 2023 - present
  • ASCE SEI Modular, Rapidly-Erectable, and Deployable Structures Technical Committee, Member, 2023-2024
  • Journal of Engineering Mechanics, Reviewer, 2022 - present.
  • Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, Dynamics Group, Member, 2022 - present.
  • Illinois Department of Transportation Bridges and Foundations, Academic Liasion, 2021-2023
  • Society of Women Engineers, Member, 01/2021- present.
  • Journal of Bridge Engineering, Reviewer, 2020 - present.
  • Engineering Structures, Reviewer, 2018 - present.
  • Journal of Sound and Vibration, Reviewer, 2018 - present.
  • Journal of Structural Engineering, Reviewer, 2018 - present.
  • Engineering Mechanics Institute (EMI) of ASCE, M.ASCE, 01/2019 - present.
  • International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS), Member (Working Group 15 Structural Morphology), 04/2015 - present.
  • American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), M.ASCE, 09/2012 - present.
  • Structural Engineering Institute (SEI) of ASCE, M.ASCE, 09/2012 - present.

Research Interests

  • Optimized sensor placement for civil structures
  • Structural dynamics
  • Form-finding methods
  • Machine learning and robotics for civil structures
  • Damage mitigation and risk assessment in large-scale structures
  • Adaptive and deployable structures

Research Statement

Prof. Sychterz and her graduate students in the Sychterz Modular Adaptive Resilient Transformable Infrastructure (SMARTI) lab harness kinematic geometrically nonlinear systems, such as tensegrity structures and origami, for adaptive civil infrastructure. Please reference the attached 3-page research statement for more information about her research.

Primary Research Area

  • Structural Engineering

Research Areas

Selected Articles in Journals

Articles in Conference Proceedings

  • Sychterz, A.C. and Baruah, A.C. Damage Detection and Sensor Optimization for Stability Characterization of a Meter-Scale Origami Pill-Bug Structure,  American Institute for Steel Construction NASCC 2025=6 Structural Stability Research Council, Atlanta, United States. 8p.
  • Rodgers, C., Sychterz, A.C., and Henschen, J. Work in Progress: Developing a Virtual Reality Intervention Activity for Reinforced Concrete Design, American Society of Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition 2026, Charlotte, United States, 8p
  • Hummad, K. and Sychterz, A.C. Enhancing the Design of Deployable Anchors for Coastal Slope Stabilization Through Dynamic Relaxation,  SMASIS 2025, St. Louis, United States, 2025, 4p.
  • Reksowardojo, A. and Sychterz, A.C. Controlled geometry changes as a strategy for active diagnosis of damage in discrete structures, ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute 2025, Irvine, United States, 2025, 4p.
  • Wang, Z. and Sychterz, A.C. An Adaptive Dynamic Relaxation method with First Kinematic Equilibrium: A Study on Error comparison and time efficiency, ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute 2025, Irvine, United States, 2025, 4p.
  • Paul, S. and Sychterz A.C. Predicting Tensile Behavior of Multi-Layered Randomized Architected Material (MLRAM) using Artificial Intelligence, ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute 2025, Irvine, United States, 2025, 4p.
  • Baruah, A.C. and Sychterz A.C. Damage Classification of Deployable Origami Structure Using Supervised Machine Learning, ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute 2025, Irvine, United States, 2025, 4p.
  • Capretta, E. and Sychterz, A.C. Experimental Data-Informed Computational Analysis of Installation Processes for Deployable Ground Anchors, ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute 2025, Irvine, United States, 2025, 4p.
  • Khan, A., Henschen, J., Sychterz, A.C., and Perry, L. Exploring Faculty Perspectives on Challenging Threshold Concepts in Structural Engineering, American Society of Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition 2025, Montreal, Canada, 8p.
  • Rodgers, C., Rahman, A., Sychterz, A.C., and Henschen, J. Case Study: Developing and Implementing VR Technology for Civil Engineering Education, American Society of Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition 2025, Montreal, Canada, 8p.
  • Capretta, E., Hummad, K., Rahman, S., Beemer, R., and Sychterz, A.C. Shear Plane Analysis of Deployable Anchors and Insights from X-ray Microtomography, Proceedings of the International Symposium on Frontiers in Offshore Geotechnics, Nantes, France, 2025, 6p.
  • Capretta, E., Hummad, K., and Sychterz, A.C. Experimental and analytical stability of thick origami panels for deployable anchors to prevent coastal erosion, Proceedings of the Annual Stability Conference, 2025, Louisville USA, 2025, 8p.
  • Baruah, A.C. and Sychterz, A.C. Sensor placement for control of a meter-scale origami structure, Proceedings of the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures, 2024, Zurich, 2024 4p.
  • Capretta, E., Hummad, K., and Sychterz, A.C. Analytical and experimental testing for increased shear plane of deployable geosystems for coastal stabilization, Engineering Mechanics Institute conference 2024, Chicago, United States. 8p.
  • Baruah, A.C. and Sychterz, A.C. Optimizing sensor placement for characterization and control of a meter-scale origami pill-bug structure, Engineering Mechanics Institute conference 2024, Chicago, United States. 4p.
  • Paul, S. and Sychterz A.C. Non-linear modelling of multi-layered randomized architected material (MLRAM) under tensile loading for a tensegrity structure, Engineering Mechanics Institute conference 2024, Chicago, United States. 4p.
  • Sychterz, A.C. Stability of a deployable awns on a compliant steel geosystem for nonlinear soil-structure interaction, American Institute for Steel Construction NASCC 2024 Structural Stability Research Council, San Antonio, United States. 8p.
  • Tucker, K. and Sychterz A.C. Comparison of biologically inspired functionally-graded deployable geosystems with experimental measurements, Proceedings of the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS) Symposium, Melbourne, Australia, 2023, 10p.
  • Baruah A.C. and Sychterz A.C. 'Damage detection of cable-actuated origami structure using dynamic relaxation, Engineering Mechanics Institute Conference 2022, Baltimore, Maryland. 4p.
  • Paul, S. and Sychterz, A.C. Robustness of Multilayered Random-network Architected Material through Experimental Testing, ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute Conference 2022, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, 4p.
  • Grendzinski, M. and Sychterz, A.C. Characterization of Torque-Driven Underground Compliant Structures Using Pushover Analysis, Engineering Mechanics Institute Conference 2022, Baltimore, Maryland. 4p.
  • Torres, J.A. and Sychterz, A.C. Virtual Reality as a Vehicle for Education in the Domains of Building Systems, American Society of Engineering Education Annual Conference and Exposition 2022, Minneapolis, MN. 8p.
  • Tucker, K and Sychterz, A.C. Analyzing Geosystems with Deployable Compliant Mechanisms for Enhanced Tension Capacity, Canadian Society of Civil Engineers Annual Conference 2022, Whistler, British Columbia. 8p.
  • Sychterz, A.C. Adaptive Aluminum Tensegrity Structure as a Bike Parking Canopy, 5th International Conference on Structures & Architecture, Aalborg, 2022, 8p.
  • Paul, S. and Sychterz A.C. A Computational Analysis for an Adaptive Tensegrity-based Four-Module Roof Structure, Canadian Society for Civil Engineering VIRTUAL Conference 2021, 9p.
  • Baruah, A.C. and Sychterz A.C. Pill-bug inspired adaptive origami tuned-mass dampers, Canadian Society for Civil Engineering VIRTUAL Conference 2021, 8p.
  • Gathman, H and Sychterz A.C. Analysis of full-scale plate-based tensegrity structure using dynamic relaxation, Canadian Society for Civil Engineering VIRTUAL Conference 2021, 8p.
  • Paul, S. and Sychterz A.C. Dynamic Characterization of an Adaptive Tensegrity-based Four-Module Roof Structure, Proceedings of the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS) Symposium, Surrey, UK, 2021, 10p.
  • Baruah, A.C. and Sychterz A.C. Active control of 3D printed pill-bug inspired adaptive origami, Proceedings of the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS) Symposium, Surrey, UK, 2021, 10p.
  • Gathman, H and Sychterz A.C. Full-scale plate-based tensegrity bike parking canopy, Proceedings of the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS) Symposium, Surrey, UK, 2021, 10p.
  • Sychterz A.C. and Smith, I.F.C., Path-finding for deployment and midspan connection of a tensegrity structure, Proceedings of the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS) Symposium, Boston, United States, 2018, 10p.
  • Sychterz, A.C and Smith I.F.C., Dynamic effects of cable rupture in a tensegrity structure, Fourth conference on Smart Monitoring, Assessment and Rehabilitation of Civil Structures, Zürich, Switzerland, 2017, 8p.
  • Sychterz, A.C. and Smith, I.F.C., Towards biomimetic actuation for a deployable structure, Proceedings of the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS) Symposium, Tokyo, Japan, 2016, 9p.
  • Sychterz, A.C. and Smith, I.F.C., Shape control for self-stress following deployment of a tensegrity footbridge, 24th International Workshop on Intelligent Computing in Engineering, Krakow, Poland, 2016, 11p.
  • Sychterz, A.C., Dalil Safaei, S., and Smith, I.F.C., Friction modeling of a deployable tensegrity footbridge, Proceedings of the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS) Symposium, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2015, 11p.
  • Sychterz, A.C., Narasimhan, S., and Walbridge, S., A study on modal characterization and dynamic analysis of two aluminium pedestrian bridges in Québec, International Aluminium Conference INALCO 2013 Conference Proceedings Montreal, Canada, 2013, 10p.
  • Sychterz A.C., Sadhu, A., Narasimhan, S., and Walbridge, S., Results from Modal Testing of the Daigneault Creek Bridge, Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE) 2013 General Conference Proceedings, Montreal, Canada, 2013, 10p.

Invited Lectures

  • U.S. interstate + air traffic maps: creating a multi-layered lattice material as a component within nonlinear structures
  • Deployable anchors: Origami is for Geotechnical Engineers

Patents

  • Adaptor for Adding Deployable Compliant Awns to Preconstructed Foundation Members.
  • UIUC2025-144-01(PRO) || GBC 1201*163439PR Anchor Pile Device with Rotationally Deployed Compliant Awns.

Magazine Articles

Honors

  • Outstanding Young Engineer Award, Structural Engineers Association of Illinois (SEAOI) (04/2024)
  • ASCE SEI Future Leaders Award (02/2024)
  • ASCE SEI Futures Fund Young Professionals Award (01/2023)

Teaching Honors

  • ASCE ExcEEd Fellow (07/2022)
  • Collins Scholars Fellow (01/2021)
  • Levenick Sustainable Teaching Fellowship (01/2021)

Research Honors

  • Best paper award, 2nd (Angshuman Baruah), Engineering Mechanics Institute Conference - Structural Health Monitoring Committee (05/2025)
  • Best poster (Kaylee Tucker), Illinois Structural Engineering Conference 2022, Champaign (04/2022)
  • Best poster (Juan Torres), Illinois Structural Engineering Conference 2022, Champaign (04/2022)
  • Best poster (Heather Gathman), Illinois Structural Engineering Conference 2021, Champaign (04/2021)