Dionisio P. Bernal
Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Contact
- bernal@coe.northeastern.edu
- 360 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
Office
- 405 CU
- 617.373.4417
Research Focus
System identification, fault detection and fault localization, earthquake engineering, soil structure interaction, structural stability
Education
- PhD, Civil Engineering, University of Tennessee, 1979
- MS, Civil Engineering, University of Tennessee, 1976
- BS, Civil Engineering, University of Tennessee, 1975
Honors & Awards
- 2020 Søren Buus Outstanding Research Award
- 2011 “Students Speak” Teaching Award
- 2004 Martin W. Essigmann Award for Teaching Excellence, Northeastern University, Boston MA
- 1998 Honorary Distinguished Professor, Institute of Technology of Santo Domingo
- 1993 Moisseiff Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers for the paper “Instability of Buildings Subjected to Earthquakes,” Journal of Structural Engineering, 118(8), 2239-2260.
- 1989 Hayes Engineering Award for excellence in research, Northeastern University
Professional Affiliations
- Member of American Society of Civil Engineers
Research Overview
System identification, fault detection and fault localization, earthquake engineering, soil structure interaction, structural stability
Selected Research Projects
- Monitoring the Health of Structural Systems from the Geometry of Sensor Traces
Principal Investigator, National Science Foundation
Department Research Areas
Selected Publications
- Bernal, Eigenvalue Sensitivity of Sampled Systems Operating in Closed-Loop, Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, 105, 2018, 481-487
- Bernal, M.R. Ulriksen, Output Feedback in the Design of Eigenstructures for Enhanced Sensitivity, Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, 112, 2018, 22-30
- D. Ulriksen, D. Bernal, L. Damkilde, Shaped Input Distributions for Structural Damage Localization, Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, 110, 2018, 499-508
- Bernal, State Observers in the Design of Eigenstructures for Enhanced Sensitivity, Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, 110, 2018, 122-129
- Bernal, Analytical Minimization of Synchronicity Errors in Stochastic Identification, Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, 98, 2017, 415-424
- Zhang, D. Bernal, Damage Localization From Projection of Free Vibration Signals, Journal of Sound and Vibration, 394, 2017, 146-154
Nov 02, 2022
2022 Stanford University Annual Assessment of Author Citations
The following COE professors are among the top scientists worldwide selected by Stanford University representing the top 2 percent of the most-cited scientists with single-year impact in various disciplines. The selection is based on the top 100,000 by c-score (with and without self-citations) or a percentile rank of 2% or above. The list below includes […]
Dec 23, 2021
COE Professors Selected in Stanford University List of Top 2% Scientists Worldwide
The following COE professors are among the top scientists worldwide selected by Stanford University representing the top 2 percent of the most-cited scientists with single-year impact in various disciplines. The selection is based on the top 100,000 by c-score (with and without self-citations) or a percentile rank of 2% or above. The list below includes […]
Sep 10, 2020
Faculty and Staff Awards 2020
Congratulations to all the winners of the faculty and staff awards, and to everyone for their hard work and dedication during the 2019-2020 academic school year.

Jul 20, 2016
Monitoring the Health of Structural Systems from the Geometry of Sensor Traces
CEE Professor Dionisio Bernal received a $194K NSF grant for “Monitoring the Health of Structural Systems from the Geometry of Sensor Traces“. Deterioration from the passage of time and from exposure to large loading events can reduce the safety of structural systems. The effectiveness and efficiency of interventions to maintain adequate reliability depend on the […]
Jun 07, 2016
Advancing Teaching and Learning at Northeastern
Northeastern has awarded grants to two groups of faculty to promote Advancing Teaching and Learning at Northeastern.

Jul 16, 2012
Northeastern University Hosts the 2012 NSF CMMI Engineering Research and Innovation Conference
Northeastern University's College of Engineering hosted the National Science Foundation's 2012 Engineering Research and Innovation Conference for the Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI) from July 9-12, 2012.

Nov 08, 2011
Prof. Bernal gives keynote lecture at EVACES
Professor Dionisio Bernal gave one of the keynote lectures at the 4th International Conference on Experimental Vibration Analysis For Civil Engineering Structures (EVACES), in Varenna, Italy.

Aug 10, 2011
Prof. Bernal Researches New Energy Dissipation Strategies for Buildings
Professor Dionisio Bernal has received a $161,580 grant from the George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) from the National Science Foundation to estimate damping in buildings during earthquakes.

Jun 13, 2011
Real-World Academics
CIV Professors Ming Wang, Dionisio Bernal, and Jerome Hajjar organized the 2011 Engineering Mechanics Institute Conference which focused on academic research and real-world applications.
Apr 11, 2011
Six Faculty Named 2010 Outstanding Teachers of the College of Engineering
Congratulations to the following faculty, who were identified by our students as Outstanding Teachers of the College of Engineering for 2010: Dionisio Bernal, Daniel Dulaski, Philip Larese-Casanova, Thomas Sheahan, Ming Wang, and Mishac Yegian.