Hu “Oliver” Zhao’s academic journey goes beyond his professional aspirations; it’s also deeply personal. His research as a doctoral student in the Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Texas A&M University is a direct application of the strength he found through profound challenges. He recently shared his journey in the article, "Half a Skull, Whole a Life, When a Night Run Changed Everything,"
Now working under the guidance of Dr. Ali Mostafavi, Zhao is channeling that resilience into improving community safety and urban infrastructure.
Community resilience
Currently, Zhao’s research on urban resilience and disaster response specifically examines how communities in Harris County, Texas, recover from natural hazards. His current work analyzes the impact of Hurricane Beryl in 2024 and incorporates both engineering data and social science insights.
“Our general topic is about urban resilience, but that is actually an umbrella term,” Zhao said. “We are actually managing aspects beyond the engineering, such as community behavior patterns and human-infrastructure network interactions.”
His research involves analyzing real power outage data, which tracks the duration and severity of electrical blackouts across different zip codes in Harris County following the hurricane.
"The most interesting thing we found is that in some parts of Harris County, the outages lasted nearly two weeks or even longer,” he said. “In other areas, power was restored within just a few days after Hurricane Beryl passed."
Additionally, he examines social demographic surveys and correlates outage data with responses from thousands of residents in Harris County. This enables investigation into factors like income, education, household characteristics and their connection to a community's willingness to pay for faster utility restoration services.
Through extensive data visualization and analysis, Zhao aims to understand why certain neighborhoods and demographics experience significantly slower recovery times, with the goal of informing better and more effective policy and engineering decisions to close this gap in future disasters.
A journey of service and recovery
Zhao’s dedication to service and resilience started long before his Ph.D. He has long been involved in service-oriented organizations, including sustainability initiatives at UCLA and community programs at Auburn University, which shaped his view of civil engineering as a discipline serving humanity.
His own life changed dramatically in July 2023, shortly after graduating from UCLA with his master’s degree while preparing to pursue his Ph.D. at Texas A&M. He fell into a coma after a severe accident during a night run in Los Angeles. Strangers called 911, saving his life.
“I was so fortunate to be saved, although I still don’t know who these Good Samaritans are,” he said.
The injury left him with partial hearing loss in his right ear and required two surgeries during a long recovery from a traumatic brain injury with subarachnoid hemorrhage.
“I hope I can do something meaningful in return and pay it forward through my work,” he said.
Looking Forward
In addition to his research, Zhao actively contributes to the civil engineering department as associate editor of “The Transit” for Texas A&M’s Chi Epsilon chapter and as a general officer of the Graduate Student Association. He is focused on continuing his research to strengthen the connection between civil engineering and real-world community needs.
Outside the department, Zhao has served as chapter president of Tau Beta Pi Association Texas Delta Chapter for 2024–25, vice president of Texas A&M Graduate Student Consulting Club, and social media manager of the International Student Association.
"I look forward to contributing to the growth of our program and representing Texas A&M through research and professional service on the regional, national and international levels," he said.
Zhao is currently working towards publishing his research findings. He holds a master’s degree in civil engineering from UCLA and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering as an Honors Scholar from Auburn University. His story reflects how resilience in life can translate into resilience in research and service to others.