Payal Kotecha

Title
Assistant Professor
Email
Department
Civil Engineering Department
College
College of Engineering

Areas of Expertise

  • Infrastructure Asset Management
  • Structural Health Monitoring
  • Computational Mechanics
  • Composite Materials
Payal Kotecha

Dr. Payal Kotecha is an assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering. Her research interests include infrastructure asset management, structural health monitoring, computational mechanics and composite materials. 

Dr. Kotecha earned her Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington, where she was recognized for academic excellence. Before joining Embry‑Riddle, she was a post-doctoral research associate and adjunct professor at the University of Texas at Arlington. She also brings industry experience as a former project manager at Burke Structural Engineers in Dallas and project engineer at Vertex Guam.

Active in professional organizations, Dr. Kotecha is a member of the American Concrete Institute, American Society of Civil Engineers, Structural Engineering Institute, American Society of Engineering Education and Society of Women Engineers, and serves as a voting member on various ACI sub-committees. She remains committed to advancing engineering education, research, service and consulting.

  • Ph.D. - Doctor of Philosophy in Civil Engineering, The University of Texas at Arlington
  • CIV 340: Construction Engineering
  • ES 202: Solid Mechanics

STATICS

  • ES 201 (Fall 2023)
  • ES 201 (Fall 2022)

SOLID MECHANICS

  • ES 202 (Spring 2024)
  • ES 202 (Fall 2023)
  • ES 202 (Spring 2023)
  • ES 202 (Fall 2022)
  • ES 202 (Summer 2022)
  • ES 202 (Spring 2022)
  • ES 202 (Fall 2021)

CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING

  • CIV 340 (Spring 2024)
  • CIV 340 (Spring 2023)
  • CIV 340 (Spring 2022)
  • Kotecha, P., and Abolmaali, A., Macro-synthetic fibers as reinforcement in deep beams with discontinuity regions: Experimental investigation, Journal of Engineering Structures, V 200, December 2019.      ​​DOI: 10.1016/j.engstruct.2019.109672

ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS

  • Adjunct Professor, University of Texas at Arlington, USA (2018-2019 & 2020)
  • Post-Doctoral Research Associate, The University of Texas at Arlington, USA (2018-2020)
  • Research Engineering Scientist, The University of Texas at Arlington, USA (2018-2020)
  • Graduate Research/Teaching Assistant, The University of Texas at Arlington, USA (2014-2018)
  • Assistant Professor, Gujarat Technological University, India (2009-2013)

INDUSTRY APPOINTMENTS

  • Project Manager (Structural), Burke Structural Engineers, Frisco, TX, USA (2021)
  • Project Engineer (Construction), Vertex Guam, GU, USA (2021)
  • Structural Engineer, Doshi Engineers, Rajkot, GJ, India (2007-2009)
  • American Concrete Institute (ACI) 
    • ACI Committee 544: Associate Member
    • ACI Sub-Committee 544-0C-FRC Testing: Voting Member
    • ACI Sub-Committee 544-0D-FRC Structural Use: Voting Member
    • ACI Committee 447-Finite Element Analysis: Associate Member
  • American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
    • ASCE Advanced Materials and Structures Committee: Member
  • Structural Engineering Institute (SEI) 
  • American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE)
  • Society of Women Engineers (SWE)


  • Nominated for the College of Engineering teaching award (2024) 
  • Summer Dissertation Fellowship (2018)
  • Recognition for Academic Excellence in Civil Engineering (2017-2018)
  • STEM Doctoral Fellowship (2014-2018)
  • Department of Civil Engineering Scholarship (2013-2014)